Billboard War Redux: Audi shoots back, BMW turns away
Audi vs. BMW billboards – Click above for high-res image gallery
The billboard war taking place between Audi and BMW in Southern California has taken yet another turn today. After Audi called out its cross-country rival by saying "Your Move, BMW" on a billboard overlooking Santa Monica Blvd. advertising the new A4, BMW responded by renting its own billboard across the street that simply showed the M3 and "Checkmate." Audi then had some fun collecting photoshopped billboard responses from fans on its Facebook page before revealing its own retort. The new billboard, which reportedly went up today, shows the R8 supercar next to this proclamation: "Time to check your luxury badge. It may have expired."
Huh?
While the R8 is a great weapon with which to defend yourself against an M3 attack, the battle cry beside it makes no sense to us whatsoever. If this were a Yo Mama competition, BMW would be chest bumping Wilmer Valderrama right now and Audi would be crawling back into its hoopty for the long ride home.
BMW did actually have a response for Audi. At some point the brand removed its M3 advertisement from across the street and didn't replace it. Audi is now battling with an ad for Barney's CO-OP... and losing.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 5)
bmw4dea 7:10PM (4/17/2009)
yeah, i don't get it either. oh well, all bmw has to do is pull out the m6 =)
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taipeileviathan 9:13PM (4/17/2009)
Wait what? The R8 kills the M6 as is, and when the V10 comes out it'll be overkill, so what was your point again?
Snoopymaniac 5:17AM (4/18/2009)
The M6?
That's like my buddy Mike showing up at a party with this fit slim chick and me showing up with a blinged out overweight cougar...
I'm an //M guy, I have an E46 M3... but the M6 is an abomination right up there with the X6M and X5M.
Quattroporte 7:10PM (4/17/2009)
"Huh?"
Really. "Huh?" would have made a better response.
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asng15 7:54PM (4/17/2009)
Makes perfect sense to me.
Is this an Auto blog? How do you not get it?
Dont drive the public opinion like this way .................
kumquat 8:14PM (4/17/2009)
If I were rich, I'd put up a billboard nearby that just says "wat" and has a nonsensical picture on it, like a goose wearing a hat.
Big Rocket 8:50PM (4/17/2009)
@Quattroporte, John Neff, and others: During the 2008 Superbowl, Audi aired an R8 commercial that positioned the brand as the new godfather in the luxury car segment. This new billboard is a continuation of that theme, and works with or without the other BMW billboard. It is a wake-up call for buyers of all luxury car brands, not just BMW.
PJ 5:24AM (4/20/2009)
But the R8 *isn't* their luxury car.
asuka 9:16PM (4/17/2009)
@Big Rocket:
If an advertisement has to be explained, its failed. And I doubt its referencing something that aired during the Super Bowl a year-and-a-half ago. If it is, that's even worse than this apparent non-sequitur.
Big Rocket 10:14PM (4/17/2009)
@asuka: No, it does not reference the old Superbowl commercial at all. Rather, I said the billboard uses the same formula that the Superbowl commercial did -- a continuation of the same theme of new versus old luxury. Speaking of the billboard, the message was loud and clear: "Your luxury car brand is outdated, buy an Audi instead." It requires explanation only when people over-analyze it. And far from being a non-sequitur, using the R8 fits perfectly into the one-upsmanship of the billboard rivalry between Audi and BMW.
danat86 11:31PM (4/17/2009)
@Big Rocket, finally..somebody who actually understands that this is not a direct response to BMW but to all brands. For all those who think its a stupid response, well its not a response. Its there continuation of war on all luxury brands. Remember the God father superbowl ad? Q5 ad? Meet the Beckers? A5 with a college student? Its another step in that direction and NOT a billboard response. Gotta read between the lines people.
asuka 1:12AM (4/18/2009)
If an ad requires that I "read between the lines" and recall several different adds that I may or may not have seen, all while I'm driving past the billboard at 35 mph, its probably not a good ad, regardless of what its intent is.
Big Rocket 1:40AM (4/18/2009)
@asuka: The Average Joe driving past the billboard is more likely to say, "Wow, that Audi looks nice. I wonder what it is and how much it costs." Then he might visit the Audi website, where he is exposed to Audi's full vehicle line-up. If Audi is lucky, he might even visit a local dealership, and drive home in an Audi.
But what the Average Joe is unlikely to do, however, is log onto an Internet forum, and debate whether the billboard's message is a non-sequitur to some other billboard elsewhere, or whether the billboard was a success / failure. Considering all the free publicity Audi got, I would say the billboard did pretty well.
waiownsyou 2:21AM (4/18/2009)
@ Big Rocket
I wanna see the Average Joe get a heart attack when he sees that the cool lookin' car starts at $114,200.
Big Rocket 4:12AM (4/18/2009)
@waiownsyou: Perhaps you might have heard of the halo effect?
"a phenomenon by which an individual transfers an impression about, say, one product to other products of the same marketer, by association..."
http://promoprof.babson.edu/Glossary/h/GlossaryH.htm
ken_aisin 8:03AM (4/18/2009)
I don't know about "Huh?". The original "Think Again." was pretty good.
Hyundai should take this chance to put up a Genesis sedan billboard that says:
"It's fresh, it won't expire, and it will only get better with age." Or,
"It's fresh, and it has the longest shelf-life."
homunculus 10:35AM (4/18/2009)
A bunch of people debating the meaning of a billboard ad.
I'd say it worked.
Jeremy 12:27PM (4/18/2009)
I'm not trying to be one of those elitist guys that says "how do you not get it", but really...how do you not get it?
Audi is basically saying that BMW hasn't done anything new in terms of pushing the envelope in a very long time. BMW is very good at "tweaking" what is albeit a great design and catalog of carts, but nothing amazing. The R8, but many accounts, is exactly that.
P.V. 7:11PM (4/17/2009)
It makes perfect sense to me. Audi is saying that BMW's luxury is based on empty prestige, while Audi's is based on real merit. Brilliant.
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zamafir 7:26PM (4/17/2009)
Yup, that and every single review of the car, including autoblog's, has extolled how refined/luxurious the car is, while at the same time being such an effective track instrument.
What's really worth talking about here is how fast audi responded in terms of igniting their fan base and getting this thing up. From this example, their constant twittering during ALMS, etc, it's no wonder their market share continues to expand, and profits continue to rise, while bmw's both fall respectively. Just as you're saying, BMW's got nothing to retaliate with, no new 3 series which is faster and more frugal, and their current tenuous position makes that clearer. They'll need to keep resorting to this sort of marketing if their profits continue to freefall. Hopefully we won't see another 5,000 employees laid off again.