In June 2016, FCB Cape Town formulated and installed the BMW Motorrad ‘Bus Stop’ activation for the new BMW Motorrad destination store in Cape Town. Developed by art director Janine Coboz, writer David Bassett and group head Dylan Davies along with executive creative director Mike Barnwell, the activation was developed with the payoff line – ‘Blink and you’ll miss it’ – for the new BMW S 1000 RR in mind.
To carry out the activation, the FCB team were required to rig a bus stop in Cape Town with speakers and install a puddle of water in the road alongside the same bus stop. “The two were linked so that people waiting at the bus stop would hear the sound of a bike travelling really fast and approaching the shelter. As it ‘sped past’, water splashed from the puddle much as it would have if a motorbike had driven at pace through it. But there was no motor bike. ‘Had it been travelling so fast, the people had missed seeing it?’” explains Barnwell. The hysterical and confused reactions of those waiting at the bus stop, experiencing the activation, was captured by hidden cameras and shared on social media. Within just three days, the video had been shared and viewed over three-million times on various social media channels.
Troy Davies and Gareth Place – dual directors, cinematographers and editors on the job – say that the brief was simply to capture the subjects in a creative manner but still maintain a hidden camera approach to the shoot. “We had to convey the idea through capturing genuine reactions.” To best achieve the desired hidden camera style, Davies and Place employed “long lenses and a creative use of foliage” to keep the equipment concealed making use of the Canon 5dmk111 and various lenses, “mainly for the small form factor,” they explain.
The success of the BMW Motorrad ‘Bus Stop’ activation is proof that in the digital age, effective advertising and increased brand awareness need not be a tremendously costly endeavour. The combination of feel-good humour and the right audience makes the spot enjoyable to watch and to share, making for a significant brand activation and sparking brand conversation.
Dylan Davies, FCB Cape Town’s creative group head says that the success of the BMW Motorrad ‘Bus Stop’ activation reveals the key to the creation of any successful activation – the right message for the right audience. “In our piece, it was the accelerating power of the BMW Motorrad S 1000 RR that was both our creative concept and mechanic to land a message with bike enthusiasts all over the world: speed – it’s in every biker’s blood, and the piece plays to this particular passion point. And the BMW Motorrad S 1000 RR is the authority on acceleration. It’s so quick that if you blink, you’ll actually miss it,” he explains.
View the BMW Motorrad ‘Bus Stop’ activation on YouTube.
