O, Canada: BMW and MINI get in the Olympic Spirit (VIDEO)

by Keith Morgan on Tuesday, February 11th, 2014

Canadian Olympic team sponsors BMW and MINI are celebrating their association with imaginative video.

The BMW tribute (above) is heartwarming while MINI’s is plain fun as a garage full of MINIs sing “O Canada”.

To mark the Opening Ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, BMW premiered its 60-second spot as part of its integrated Olympic marketing campaign, Powering Performance. The campaign communicates the parallels between the high performance of BMW vehicles and the high performance of Canadian Olympic athletes.

“At BMW, peak performance, innovation, and style are at our core,” said Kevin Marcotte, Director of Marketing at BMW Canada. “Powering Performance brings to life the synergies between our brand and the elite athletes competing in Sochi, and celebrates our Team BMW Olympians as they keep their eye on their craft – and on gold.”

The Powering Performance platform and creative was developed by Cundari, BMW Canada’s creative agency. The campaign includes one 60-second TV spot, and three 15-second spots featuring three of six Team BMW sponsored athletes – Olympic champions Kaillie Humphries (Bobsleigh) and Charles Hamelin (Short Track Speed Skating), and first-time Olympian Roz Groenewoud (Freestyle Skiing – Halfpipe).

The spots were directed by award-winning director-photographer Shin Sugino, and feature the high-performance BMW M5, the all-new BMW 4 Series Coupé, the next generation BMW X5 Sports Activity Vehicle and the BMW i8, the new electric vehicle from the sub-brand BMW i.

Using the visual metaphor of “Blue Energy”, BMW’s signature colour, Powering Performance is meant to symbolize how BMW Canada is powering Canada’s athletes to achieve their best and secure their place on the Olympic podium. Topix, one of Canada’s leading post-production houses, fused the Blue Energy to each of the featured athletes as they power through every twist, turn and jaw-dropping trick. An anthemic original music track by award-winning Canadian music composer Grayson Matthews, supports the world-class visuals.

The campaign amassed more than 200 hours of rotoscoping, 150 hours of background painting, 50 versions of ‘Blue Energy’, and 500 hours of compositing to achieve the desired effect.

The TV spots are also supported by digital, out of home, consumer drive events and contesting, and social media, using hashtags #TeamBMW and #PoweringPerformance, and a two-minute dynamic behind-the-scenes spot exclusively for YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. Real-time posting to digital banner ads, bmw.ca and social media will show BMW Canada’s support for Team Canada and its Team BMW athletes every step of the way.

Go online for more information on BMW Canada’s Olympic Partnership and the Powering Performance Campaign.

Over at the BMW subsidiary, MINI teamed up with Toronto creative agency Richmond

Day, Corner Store Films and SNDWRX Audio to produce a 60-second Olympics-themed online spot (above) in which a group of MINI vehicles ‘spring to life’ to perform a unique rendition of the Canadian National Anthem.

The video, aptly titled “MINI Sings O Canada”, features a musical track that was created using only the sounds emitted by the MINI vehicles themselves – a melange of MINI horns, doors closing, electronics, and engine revs, to name but a few.

Contact: keith [dot] morgan [at] driveaybc [dot] ca

VIDEO: Charles Hamelin’s Powering Performance Ad for BMW Canada