Film is the forefront of this campaign. Our 60-second spot starring Christopher Walken aired at the Super Bowl, with the rest of the campaign to follow. The film was directed by Bryan Buckley, with cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema.

It seems nearly everyone has a Walken impression. Having one of the most iconic and recognizable voices of all time, Christopher Walken has been impersonated too many times to count, on talk shows, SNL and beyond. Our campaign taps into this often-imitated voice, and reminds the world that the original is superior.

Our film follows Christopher Walken throughout a typical day as he encounters a never-ending stream of imitators. His hotel valet, his tailor, his makeup artist and even the drive-through barista—everyone takes a stab at his iconic voice and speech cadence. Initially confused by the mimics, Walken grows increasingly frustrated.

We were tasked with launching BMW’s all-electric 5 Series, the i5. We needed a creative idea that would cement us as the leader in the luxury-automotive space by elevating the standards of the EV category. The Ultimate Driving Machine has been imitated many times but remains the ultimate.

The reaction was massive in both scale and reach. Media coverage led to over 4 billion impressions, as the work was ranked the #1 Super Bowl spot by the New York Times, Esquire and iSpot. Plus, the spot placed #7 on USA TODAY’s Ad Meter. Christopher Walken was one of the top-mentioned celebrities who appeared in ads, according to Brandwatch.

Our work across social media led to over 950 original #TalkinLikeWalken TikTok videos and the BMW website saw a 267% increase in “Build Your Own” completions compared to before the Big Game.