BMW puts media and creative into agency review

A coveted luxury auto account will be up for grabs in 2023 as BMW of North America is conducting an agency review for creative, media, social and CRM, the brand confirmed to Ad Age on Tuesday. Ad Age is an affiliate of Automotive News.

Omnicom’s Goodby Silverstein & Partners has held the creative account since 2018, when it took over from KBS, which later rebranded as Forsman & Bodenfors after a merger with the Swedish shop. The incumbent media agency is Interpublic’s UM, while IPG’s Performance Art handles CRM. Other roster agencies include Omnicom’s Critical Mass, whose duties include web development and digital marketing, and independent shop Anchor, which has social media.

BMW in a statement referred to the review as “part of our normal course of business,” meaning that it is a procurement-mandated review that happens on a regular basis every several years. The review, which is already underway, is expected to take the majority of the calendar year to complete.

Incumbent agencies, or their holding companies, will have an opportunity to defend their business, according to a BMW representative.

BMW spent $39 million on measured media in the U.S. from January to September last year, up from $32 million in the same period in 2021, according to Kantar. (It spent $49 million for all of 2021.)

Goodby was behind BMW’s 2022 Super Bowl ad that plugged its electric BMW iX with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Salma Hayek Pinault portraying Zeus and Hera. The brand, which had not appeared in the game since 2015, does not plan to return to the game this year, BMW previously confirmed to Ad Age.

BMW in 2021 took the U.S. luxury sales crown for the third straight year, out-selling rivals Lexus and Mercedes, while holding off Telsa, according to Automotive News. But this year, BMW is falling behind Tesla in the luxury race, as of August data.

The agency review comes under new U.S. marketing leadership for the German brand. In May, BMW appointed Marcus Casey as vice president of Marketing, overseeing U.S. advertising, retail marketing, consumer experience and brand partnerships, CRM and digital media. He had been working at BMW’s Munich headquarters as vice president for digital and e-commerce for BMW Group. Casey replaced Uwe Dreher, who was appointed vice president of Marketing for the BMW Group Region Europe.