Creative direction, Communications & Brand

BMW

From 1 campaign to a

Multi-year partnership.

What first, was an initial (rejected) pitch to support BMW in communications, grew into a partnership that involves working with the entire group in supporting their brand communications strategy. To date I have supported in delivering over 100 campaigns, large and small, leading creative execution of over 20k supporting assets.

01

Creative Direction

Concept through to execution, building out creative from digital to OOH. 

02

Communications

Working with group to develop campaigns to target new and existing customers.

03

Brand

Supporting Group HQ in delivering campaigns that are on brand yet maximise creativity.

"We have such a wide variety of topics, brands and message to promote, and Davuud is able to understand our requirements, creatively interpret both specific and vague briefs to give us clarity on a project.

When we know the end product, we know Davuud can deliver on that, and when we aren’t sure of the end product which is common, Davuud helps us interpret, design mock ups and ideas to help us reach our end goal. At BMW we have plenty of brand guidelines and these across our various brands are never an issue hopping between BMW and MINI brand CI.

From a personal level, Davuud is very personable, flexible and works tirelessly when we have tight turnarounds. We have a weekly call which makes life easy for the team and Davuud to share updates to our plethora of projects which we always have on the go. Would highly recommend Davuud and his services to any business, large or small. Keep up the good work chap!"

Rob Cartwright, Group Marketing Manager.

The journey.

2017 rejection.

The concept: The initial pitch I proposed to BMW was to demonstrate how far creativity could be pushed even with limitations. Part of the concept – centred entirely around the M3 tail-light (a childhood favourite of mine, (the model, not the tail-light)), to show how far we could push boundaries in creative output.

The reasoning: With such a well-established market leader, brand guidelines would be thoroughly developed, as such creativity should not suffer (not that it did they produce some of the most innovative campaigns, but I wanted to support).

The theme: Performance x Luxury x Electric

Execution: Omnichannel: Paid ads, OOH, Social, Web

Facing rejection is not failure.

They rejected the campaign, but this was not a failure. BMW Group is the industry leader in the luxury automotive market and are incredibly well-positioned against their competitors. There is a reason why this would be the case. To be leading in such a market would take a lot in R&D, resources, marketing and positioning – with some of the top experts serving the business, now if I were to suggest a campaign insinuating I had a better approach, it would be very ignorant indeed.

So the approach I took was to show how I can think, problem-solve and come up with creative solutions with little at my disposal. I wanted to get their attention, in order to support.

6 months later

An email comes in. “We really liked what you produced and we would like to see your approach to a campaign we have in mind”. At this point – all my time, energy and focus went into this one brief – I knew what was at stake.

I absorbed the brief, I did my due diligence and I went into production, assembling a team in order to produce what was needed but with complimentary work thrown in for good measure to tackle this brief.

We delivered 3 concepts matching the brief with supporting assets that could be used to strengthen the campaign, which they did not request.

I was extremely grateful for the work and my focus was on delivering unbeatable value – the opportunity cost: for the investment in the team then for the potential to take on further campaigns – this was a risk I was willing to take. 

The first email response after delivery.

Snowballing partnership

Since 2018

What was a first campaign snowballed into a multi-year partnership working with HQ on creative execution across all touch-points of the business, from internal communications through to events and digital experiences for the end consumer. Some of the recent campaigns have included: 

  • BMW Group CI development
  •  50 years of M
  •  COVID response
  • ULEZ
  • BMW London flagship fit-out
  • Multiple product launches – M Range, X range, Electric

Key mentions.

Before starting our partnership, BMW had used multiple agencies and trialled hiring internally but there seemed to be a block in creative output. The needs of Group meant to follow Brand Guidelines set by HQ but for the work to remain creative, inspiring and connecting with their customers.

4+ year partnership

The partnership has went from strength to strength, supporting BMW Group with communications and their creative roll-out, as an advisor and facilitator ensuring brand guidelines are met but with high creative and memorable output.

Supported through Covid comms strategy.

Tasked with creating a communications campaign for new and existing customers emphasising the new sales process. The success saw the campaign roll out across MINI.

100+ campaigns.

Campaigns at varying levels from digital-led to an omnichannel execution including OOH, digital, store displays and events. Supporting BMW Group in all facets of brand strategy execution.

Optimised workflow.

Overtime I have developed the workflow making the partnership more efficient and lean, reducing bottlenecks in production for fast-action campaigns. Concept through to brand checks and execution.
Flagship display
Optimised workflow.

Browse projects

Each project I have worked on has varied in what’s required – take a peak at some of the other work I have been involved with over the years. 

Let's connect.

There's power in collaboration.

If you have any questions, are intrigued by the work shown or just want to reach out and say Hi then feel free to drop me a message.

Part of the reason I created this site is to form connections with those interested in… well anything really. There’s a huge old world out there and even when we specialise in an area, we are still only uncovering a fraction of potential knowledge!

So let’s share information, collaborate, connect and grow!