Tuesday, February 21, 2006

BMW Audio Books: Gimmick or Beyond Entertainment?

Following the success of bmwfilms.com, now BMW strikes back with its unconventional medium still for its brand communication. Not making the sequel of The Hire--made by 8 well-known Hollywood filmmakers, but using a newly approach in the communication's entertaining element: a book and a lullaby.

You might still remember our childhood, our mom always trying to make us sleeps with her lullaby read from many books. Warm voice and good story, finally makes it: a good sleep and wonderful dream.

WCRS (Wight Collins Rutherford Scott), London based ad agency used all of this element to make the ad not only entertaining yet a beyond medium. Not just entertaining yet lullabying till the target group are really sleeping in a loyalty for the brand, BMW.

Anyway, we sill remember when BMW released its series of online films, it was hailed for reinventing branded content. That was six year ago, right? And here comes the next of stage: the latest chapter of BMW's entertainment strategy is a deal that sees the car manufacturer linking up with the publisher Random house to produce a series of stories that visitors to bmw-audiobooks.com can download as free podcast.

BMW Audio Books, a unique series of specially-commissioned short stories showcasing the work of some of the finest contemporary writing talent. Each gripping audio book is yours to download for free. A new audio book will be available fortnightly. Listen to them on your MP3 player, your laptop or ideally, in the car. So sit back, hit play and enjoy the ride. There are two books: Beautiful Ride by Don Winslow and Master Of The Storm by James Flint.

Don Winslow - Beautiful Ride

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Summary

Back then he was looking at a fat IPO and a boat. Back then he was rich. Back then he had a condo overlooking the ocean, a wife, and had just bought the BMW Z4 convertible. Cobalt blue, like the ocean on a clean, clear day in early spring. Now what he has left is the car. Ted's a real estate investor in Laguna Beach, California. He's been kicked out by his soon-to-be ex wife, his assets have been frozen by the IRS, he's holding on to his Beemer, but the car company's repo men want it back, and he's living in a tent. He's falling through the cracks of the 'Gold Coast' life, until he turns to money-laundering to get back in the game. Then things get worse...

Biography

Don Winslow has worked in the theatre, film and as a private investigator. He now works as an independent consultant in issues involving litigation arising from criminal behaviour. His previous novels include The Power of the Dog, The Life and Death of Bobby Z and California Fire and Life.

Narrator: Kerry Shale

A native of Winnipeg, Canada, actor and writer Kerry Shale has been working on the UK stage and in British television since 1978. He was most recently seen in the BBC 1 series Love Soup and will shortly be seen in Stephen Poliakoff's new film Gideon's Daughter. Kerry has appeared in over one hundred radio plays and has won a host of awards for his work in this medium including the Sony Award as Best Radio Actor and a Writer's Guild Award for his dramatisation of Doctor Strangelove.

James Flint - Master Of The Storm

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Summary

This is the story of a man who drives a BMW 1 Series finds himself arriving at exactly the same service station over and over again. He leaves, he drives away, but every time he tries to exit the motorway he discovers that he’s back in the same Happy Break. Who is he? Where has he come from? What is he running from? What exactly damaged the wing in his car while he was tuning the radio? And who is the hitchhiker he stops to pick up?

Biography

James Flint is a novelist, journalist and film-maker. He is the author of the novels Habitus; 52 Ways to Magic America, which won the Amazon.co.uk Bursary Award for the year 2000; and The Book of Ash, winner of a 2003 Arts Council Writers’ Award. Flint’s short fiction has been published by the Daily Telegraph, Dazed & Confused, Penguin, the New English Library and the ICA. In 2002 one of Flint’s stories (The Nuclear Train) was filmed for Channel 4 by the director Dan Saul. Flint also scripted the film installation Little Earth. He makes his own short films and maintains a website at www.jamesflint.net .

Narrator - Forbes Masson

Forbes Masson is one of Britain's most versatile actors. He has appeared extensively on stage and television. He was co-creator of the BBC sitcom The High Life and has played leading roles with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Forbes is an artistic associate of the National Theatre of Scotland.

Amazing, my first impression. It's a witty and innovative approach.
From the newsroom of WCRS' site (www.wcrs.com), there's a bold title on Campaign magz article: Are BMW's Audio Books a gimmick? Will BMW's latest initiative be able to replicate the success of online films? Hmm, just wait and see, again, will BMW Audio Books follow The Hire success in many advertising creative award? Try this first: click www.bmw-audiobooks.com and you bet!

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