The BMW M badge has a distinctive logo, color pattern and three stripe motif. This badge is beloved because it symbolizes performance, power, and the Ultimate Driving Machine. In China, M cars are still rare on the road. But it’s very easy to find people who love BMW M but don’t own one. They are the ones who are sticking M badges on their cars or decorating their cars with M tricolor. While some call this “fake badging”, we call this love. No matter what they drive, their share the BMW M spirits.

At the special occasion of BMW M’s 50th anniversary, we welcome these fans into the BMW M community with a video acknowledging and thanking them for their love. We used organic footages found on the street and made an emotional interpretation of the brand message “We Are M”.

BMW in China has a massive community who love to share and engage with the brand. Wechat is filled with BMW community groups and BMW’s Tiktok channel has 10x more followers than Mercedes’. BMW is the only luxury car brand in China with this fan base, which has helped it stay #1. Part of why BMW has so many fans is because of its inclusive community approach. Whether you are an owner or not, if you love BMW, you are invited to come play. This felt natural for BMW, a category leader whose brand promise is “Joy”.

2022 was the 50th anniversary of BMW M, BMW’s iconic high-performance subdivision. The global campaign was “We Are M”, an exclusive celebration for owners and insiders. But given BMW China’s inclusive, community-focused approach, the brief was how to open the celebration to include all BMW M lovers.

The campaign was only released by the community. The video did not appear on any official channels nor was there any media spend. Nonetheless, it achieved:

- 33.8M impressions

- 6.5M video views

- 40k engagement

More importantly, we got a very passionate response from the community. Fans resonated with the video’s inclusive message saying, “Everyone is a BMW M fan in their hearts” and “Happy to get love from my dream car”. Some commented on BMW’s bravery, saying "This boldness is what makes BMW M so legendary". Finally, many showed their undying love, saying "Proud to be an M owner", "Another emotional experience with BMW M" and "M power forever!". With the website, fans’ imaginations went wild. Some printed the M designs and stuck to their real cars! And fans even went beyond the campaign, customizing BMW M cars in video games and using AI to re-imagine M cars.

As a market, China missed out on most of BMW M’s history. BMW cars only came to China in the 90s. BMW M cars came even later. Thus, Chinese consumers didn’t witness the golden age when the premium car brands won titles on the racetrack. However, the Chinese people’s enthusiasm for BMW M cars is no less than that of the rest of the world. Even though it’s rare to see a real BMW M car on the road, it is common to use BMW M’s signature logo and tricolor badge to decorate cars, motorbikes and even bicycles. Even though only a few can own a BMW M, many desire to be closer to the performance dream cars that they have seen on the street and in ads.

Walk down the streets and there’s a big chance that you will come across a car with an unofficial BMW M badge. And it’s not limited to cars – they are also on motorbikes, bicycles, and skateboards. Interestingly, this social behavior is specific to BMW M. You won’t see unofficial Mercedes Benz, Audi or even BMW logos, but BMW M is everywhere. Many brands would see “unofficial badging” as a threat. But we profit from this social behavior and embrace anyone who loves BMW M and the thrill of driving.