BMW Drops Ultimate Slogan

We’re stunned. One of the most successful advertising slogans of all time is no more. BMW’s tagline, "The Ultimate Driving Machine," is headed for the trash heap, to be replaced by the soul-less “A Company of Ideas.” That line really makes you willing to plunk down luxury-car cash for a new ride, doesn’t it?

The reason the "ultimate" tagline actually worked was because BMW backed it up with products that were thrilling to drive. How often can you pull off something so ostentatious so easily?

There are a few successful taglines we could see going, like Mazda’s "Zoom-Zoom." But "The Ultimate Driving Machine"? We’re not quite sure how “ideas” connect with driving. This could go down as the "ultimate" mistake in automotive advertising history.

[Changing a Winning Ad Slogan for No Good Reason, AdAge via Jalopnik]

Comments

What are they thinking!

It should be interesting to see sales #'s in the next year. I am betting though even the change of slogan won't affect current owners of BMW's because they know they are still driving "The Ultimate Driving Machine"

As an owner of an "ultimate driving machine", I hope the advertising gurus(read: workers bored out of their minds) down at BMW just leave well enough alone. Their current slogan needs no further explaination, and that's exactly what a slogan should do.

The "The Ultimate Driving Machine" ended in the E30 era....

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A classic example of, "If it ain't broken, fix it until it is."

The slogan was long in tooth, but if you don't have something better...wait until you do to launch a replacement.

I've owned BMW's since the early 90's and no doubt the driver involvement in their vehicles has waned somewhat since then. But I would also argue that the average driver involvement from the rest of the industry's vehicles has followed roughly the same curve of decline. As enthusiasts, we have the face the reality that cars are nothing more than a really expensive appliance to most people. But that doesn't mean that we should stop pushing the marque that we love to hold fast to what put them on the map....

The source article (Ad Age) for this posting was flat out wrong. BMW has no intention of dropping "The Ultimate Driving Machine." The future campaign that Ad Age referred to has actually been running for three months, and the print, TV and online all prominently feature the existing slogan.

What the reporter was talking about was a theme -- A Company of Ideas -- which is not a new slogan but rather a new way for BMW to talk about the innovative thinking that allows them to build the Ultimate Driving Machine.

You won't see those exact words -- A Company of Ideas -- used in any way that would be confused as a slogan or as a replacement for The Ultimate Driving Machine. In fact, the reporter who so badly mangled this story wrote it without ever seeing the ads he was talking about.

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