Where did Mr. Ries get such a BS info that BMW NA are changing the slogan???

The “Ultimate Driving Machine” slogan is staying intact!

Some people are just seeking for attention.

Inbelievable!

Sounds like they have a Marketing Manager and an ad agency with nothing to do.
Talk about DUMB branding.

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If this is true, I will be heart broken. God damn sales and marketing. God damn them to hell!!

I hope this is just more BS, because some of the ideas…

yes now i will not buy a bmw because they changed their ad…………….

Let’s see…….Spend 31 years building a reputation, then change it as you are finally at the number one position. Don’t think so.

Germans are ultra-conservative about business reputaion, I do not think this is true .

Volvo does not “own” safety. They do own BORING though.

Changing that tagline would be the biggest blunder in advertising history.

Great for Audi, though.

ok, they are more or less adding a slogan. The new commercials are along the lines of, we let ideas live to become Ultimate Driving Machines. They will not get rid of this slogan. It is one of the most recognizable tag lines to date. Unlike Cadillacs new one, Life Liberty and the Pursuit… *barf*

ultimate driving machine was better don’t have much to say.

Yeah volvo’s real boring…..volvo has made race cars since 1950’s. Won rallies and just to remind you, whooped BMW’s ass in GrpA and BTCC. Plus s60r and V70r. BMW’s are great but i’m not sure why you decided to insult volvos.

idiots

Not the smartest idea, but to be honest, if you ask the average Joe what the slogan for BMW is, they wouldn’t know. It would not seem so outrageous if the new slogan was an improvement instead of a step backwards.

Even in Africa a bima is known as the ULTIMATE DRIVING MACHINE.
With greet respect mr.marketing manage i suggest u go help Volvo,Toyota,Mazda and the likes with slogens and leave Autobavariour alone PLEASE.
Your ideas are good and defenatly not for German Machines

Go to http://www.bmwusa.com and find any word about changing the slogan if you can.

Mr. Ries made it all up!

Ehhh: *everyone* knows BMW stands for “the Ultimate Driving Machine”, even “Average Joe’s”. Changing this awesome slogan is a very, very bad idea…

BMW stole that tagline from Pontiac. Don’t believe me? Take a look at this vintage ad for the 1967 GTO. To bad Pontiac didn’t TM it. Did you also know that in the 60’s BMW sent over engineers and salespeople to talk with Pontiac execs about their sucessful marketing and cars. BMW wanted to become the Pontiac of Europe.

Now you know the rest of the story.

http://www.pontiac-power.ch/Commercials.htm

4th commercial down, Pontiac GTO – The Great One.

“BMW’s are great but i’m not sure why you decided to insult volvos.”

–Comment by Gatech_YellowJacket

Volvos are not the same company they used to be. For the price of any Volvo you can find a comparable BMW that is priced similarly yet much much more fun to drive.

I think Volvos are boring, for the money they cost they should be more fun. Their cars are all based on FWD architecture and have transverse motors. They do make an inline-six engine and I give golf claps to them. Their lone V8 is made by Yamaha and well I can applaud them for picking a great engine firm.

Most of the folks who own Volvos are boring, or got some insane Ford discount, or they are not true car people.

Just for the record, you really can not compare BMW’s and Volvo’s racing pedigree. Volvo can not hold a candle to BMW in racing. The only current car companies that can are Honda and Ferrari.

With what car did Volvo beat BMW in GrpA and BTCC? Wait you said “whooped BMW’s ass”, that is a bold statement. I know they did not beat the E30 M3. Not much did.

I’m curious and, did you mean a Volvo factory team vs a BMW factory team? B/C that is the only way you can compare them. Privateers don’t count.

Peace…

If this is true, I’m never going to buy a BMW again

This is the stupidest idea I have ever heard. BMW = “The Ultimate Driving Machine”, even the Canadian slogan “The Ultimate Driving Experience” doesn’t sound so good. But Asia’s “Sheer Driving Pleasure” is so true though!

Renton,

I agree with YellowJacket that your comments were unnecessarily inflammatory.

“Volvo does not OWN safety” is a ridiculous comment. I don’t believe any carmaker “owns” safety… just as BMW doesn’t “own” driving excitement. Volvo has merely built a reputation around safety.

And as far as Volvo’s not being purchased by real car people, I beg to differ. I happened to want a roomy car for my family and didn’t want a minivan or SUV to get it (check out the luggage space of a V70R compared to a 5-series wagon, or E-class wagon and you’ll get my point).

And, as far as driving excitement goes, I track my 911 (which I can garage on bad weather days). With a good set of snowshoes, the Volvo takes me anywhere I want in the winter.

On bmwusa.com the slogan still shows “The Ultimate Driving Machine”. I think “A Company of Ideas” is just a name for the current series of ads.

I agree with JSP, though I hope the retarded Mr. Ries aint right.

relax people, BMW is still “the ultimate driving machine”

just a few months ago they ran an ad about how their slogan is one of the most recognized, striaght to the point slogans ever made. and its true. I doubt they will change their slogan any time soon, if ever. This ‘ideas’ thing is just a new marketing of ideas the are born into ultimate driving machines. watch the commercials before you open your mouthes people.

BMW: “The ultimate driving machine.”

Porsche: “There is no substitute.”

Leave a good thing alone.

^agreed

Mercedes-Benz owns “prestige” and they also own reliability. Not anymore.

We have a Volvo and I have spent more time autocrossing and on the track doing driving schools than any of the BMW, Audi, Mercedes Benz owners I know combined (note I did not say every BMW, Audi and MB owner – I said the ones I know). I’m a car guy and I love my wife’s S60 T5. It’s fast, reliable as can be (far better than my Acura TL has been) and stealthy as sin. At high speeds it is far more relaxed and capable than the TL (which is very floaty at speed, the S60 is just glued down) Renton, that kind of generalizing is jut plain wrong.

In the August 7 edition of Advertising Age, columnist Al Ries claimed that in an upcoming advertising campaign, BMW would be dropping its legendary slogan “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” Ries was significantly off-base. First of all, BMW has no intention of dropping, altering or in any way moving away from that great line. In the development of the latest ad campaign, the first from BMW’s new advertising agency GSD&M, the issue wasn’t even discussed. Ries took some bad information and then compounded the problem by making poor assumptions based on comments that he did not even try to verify.

The “upcoming” campaign to which Ries referred actually began running more than three months ago, on May 5, in print, TV and online. “The Ultimate Driving Machine” slogan is prominently featured in all of the ads. There was also quite a bit written about the campaign launch in print and online. It appears that Ries was confused by a mention of the overarching theme of the campaign, “A Company of Ideas.” That’s not a slogan, and those actual words don’t appear in the ads in any way that would be confused as a replacement for “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” In the marketing business, it’s known as a positioning statement.” It represents a way of talking about the company, as opposed to a specific slogan that identifies the brand.

BMW is a remarkably innovative company. Their corporate culture, specifically their independence and encouragement of creative thinking and problem solving is what allows them to produce the ultimate driving machine. They are very much a company of ideas and they have the chops to prove it. The ad campaign so misinterpreted by Ad Age gives consumers a look at some of the ways BMW backs up that claim. The two things, a positioning and a slogan are very important but also very different things. The former is a broad theme, the latter a very specific word or phrase. Separate but complimentary. It’s a distinction that any marketing student knows. Al Ries and Ad Age certainly should have too.

To get a better look, check out the “Uniquely BMW” section of http://www.bmwusa.com.

Eric Webber
Communications Director
GSD&M