The press gravitated toward this campaign not just for Christopher Walken but for how he showed up. The cultural cachet surrounding Walken’s mannerisms—and particularly the way he speaks—was something that the press and prominent influencers could relate to and, more importantly, take part in. Press outlets that cover entertainment, celebrity, culture, cars and advertising were all enthusiastic to cover the story, with many adding their own version of a Walken impression as part of the coverage.

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.

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.

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.

Isn’t it great when your insight is so tight that it can also be your key message? There’s only one ultimate. Everything else is just an imitation. The overall message about imitations was portrayed through Christopher Walken, one of the most imitated actors in Hollywood - who also isn’t active on social media. So while the commercial appeared on the biggest stage in advertising, the Super Bowl, we targeted business press like the New York Times, CNN and Business Insider who were particularly intrigued and dedicated to covering the campaign spot, which was high-end in nature.

We created intrigue for the campaign by leaning into the humor surrounding Walken by launching a teaser film on January 31 called “An Ad for an Ad.” The clip poked fun at the idea that Walken thought the strategy of releasing teasers for Super Bowl ads was ridiculous. Needless to say, the teaser was a success. It launched as an exclusive in the Hollywood Reporter and went wild from there, garnering 266 million impressions from Jan. 31 to Feb. 4.

For the launch of the full spot on Feb. 5, we secured a TV exclusive with TODAY and a print exclusive with USA TODAY a full six days before Super Bowl Sunday. Coverage by ad trades, business trades and entertainment news outlets was embargoed and ran after the exclusives lifted. From there, we worked with influencers to capture their own Walken impressions and mobilize their fanbase to do the same.

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 more people than ever design their own BMW i5 online—a 267% increase in completions compared to before the Big Game.