Brilliant move by a local BMW dealer in responding to a national Audi ad. Audi’s 2009 A4 ad on the left side of the street says “Your move, BMW.” Santa Monica BMW comes back with an M3 ad across the street that says “Checkmate.” Now that’s advertising.
What do you do if you’re Audi?
Jason Fried wrote this on Apr 15 2009 There are 104 comments.
JD 15 Apr 09
Benjy 15 Apr 09
I saw that yesterday… thought it was great!
Perhaps Audi can put up a new one with an RS8 with a tag line like, “When you’re through with all the games…”
Adnan from Car Throttle 15 Apr 09
Yeh – a really smart advert (we covered it on CarThrottle too).
Have any of you seen Subaru and then Bentley’s response to all of this? Hilarious!
Daniel 15 Apr 09
That is awesome! Brilliant, brilliant idea.
And a lot better than those tired Burma-Shave jokes :-)
If I were Audi, I’d probably listen to Benjy (above) and use the RS8 . But’s it’s really hard not to sound like a sore loser.
SuatE 15 Apr 09
That is awesome! Brilliant, brilliant idea.
And a lot better than those tired Burma-Shave jokes :-)
If I were Audi, I’d probably listen to Benjy (above) and use the RS8 . But’s it’s really hard not to sound like a sore loser.
Martin Ringlein 15 Apr 09
Absolutely brilliant. I love how they really used the design to get their point across—doing the reserve design and getting the whole black/white chess symbolism in there.
Joshua Blankenship 15 Apr 09
Finally, smart advertising that isn’t aimed at 20-something college guys.
Daniel 15 Apr 09
@Adnan from Car Throttle: Seriously?! Is that a real ad? If so, kudos to Bentley for going to print with it – it’s hilarious.
You know that’s what Bentley owners are doing anyway, when they see non-Bentley owners anywhere (not that I admire Bentleys myself – I’d rather have the M3 or RS8 . Or an Aston-Martin Vanquish, if I’m feeling picky)
Mark 15 Apr 09
Well played BMW !
moxiemk1 15 Apr 09
As of yet, the RS8 isn’t out. So, they can’t really bring it to a fight of released cars.
Now, the R8, that’s quite enough without bringing out the big guns to shut BMW up, methinks.
Daniel 15 Apr 09
@SuatE: Hmmm… I’ve got this feeling that I’ve seen that exact comment before. I’ve written it, even. Right down to the typo in the last sentence. But hey, feel free to quote me – I think my comments are pure gold.
Or maybe the SvN blog has something like a race condition bug somewhere…
Brad 15 Apr 09
Audi next move should be straight out of layer tennis, remix the bmw ad
Dustin 15 Apr 09
very nice :) love it
Adam 15 Apr 09
The difference between the two cars is negligible for the average driver. The RS4 still a shade slower ‘round the Nürburgring than the M3, though, so I’d be kicking myself for having put the ad up in the first place.
Glen Barnes 15 Apr 09
What do you do if you’re Audi? Switch to Checkers?
eric 15 Apr 09
Audi Response: “Best out of three?”
(maybe not their best choice…)
Daniel Haran 15 Apr 09
Wait, Audi showed off a $42,850.00 car (MSRP), and BMW countered with one costing $66,500.00?
If the ad was there to get people to see those two cars as comparable, BMW just re-inforced that framing. The Checkmate ad is hilarious, but will it result in more cars sold, or will it help Audi more?
Peregrine Solus 15 Apr 09
Yep, they definitely got me; I always base my purchases of high-ticket items on how cleverly the dealers place their billboards.
Happy 15 Apr 09
Audi’s agency’s next move should be something like – Since when is chess any fun?- Position BMW as the snobby, boring choice. Audi as the exciting choice.
Something like: ‘You’re Move’, when most guys here it: [photo collage of rock climber, couple on a date, basketball action, etc]
‘You’re Move’ when BMW hears it:
Happy 15 Apr 09
Audi’s agency’s next move should be something like – Since when is chess any fun?- Position BMW as the snobby, boring choice. Audi as the exciting choice.
Something like: ‘Your Move’, when most guys here it: [photo collage of rock climber, couple on a date, basketball action, etc]
‘Your Move’ when BMW hears it: dull, grey, boring photo of lonely chess pawn.
Happy 15 Apr 09
[Damn my grammar, sorry]
Audi’s agency’s next move should be something like – Since when is chess any fun?- Position BMW as the snobby, boring choice. Audi as the exciting choice.
Something like:
“‘Your Move’, when most guys hear it: [photo collage of rock climber, couple on a date, basketball action, etc]”
“‘Your Move’ when BMW hears it: dull, grey, boring photo of lonely chess pawn.”
nick 16 Apr 09
checkmate indeed.
Nate Berkopec 16 Apr 09
Wow. Owned.
Guessing Audi should take down the ad and call it a day, eh?
bob 16 Apr 09
“Wrong game. King me.”
Mike Riley 16 Apr 09
I really enjoy the color contrast, same as in chess, black vs white :)
IW 16 Apr 09
Coffee Bean must be happy. They didn’t even have to do anything to get themselves into the foray.
Ari Rochmann 16 Apr 09
@Mike Riley
I wonder if the advertising department at Santa Monica BMW thought it through at that level, or whether it was a happy coincidence.
Austin 16 Apr 09
Enough with the nerdy games. Let’s go driving.
Happy 16 Apr 09
Austin’s got it!
Jimmy Chan 16 Apr 09
Audi: “Wrong password, try again..”
booo 16 Apr 09
booo bmw shit… audi is the best :]
Quintijn Knepper 16 Apr 09
Great ad, great car! I can tell!
Milo 16 Apr 09
The car is inconsequential, even if BMW was selling a lawnmower, the day is theirs!
Perfectly executed in terms of colour, shape and the dimensions of the signboard too.
tracto 16 Apr 09
now, children’s game is finish ;) take time to enjoy with a real car:
audi R8 pict
tracto 16 Apr 09
or: ” if you’re fed up play with your king ‘pict of MSRP let it and drive a queen : pict of audi R8 “
Ivan Kirigin 16 Apr 09
You come back with a better game that closer models the markets, make a reference to moving fast, and insult their intelligence.
You say: “We play GO!”
Didrik Nordström 16 Apr 09
klockrent :D
Evan 16 Apr 09
As much as I like Audi, I gotta say: owned. There’s no response to “checkmate.”
ratchetcat 16 Apr 09
Both dealerships are selling luxury cars during a recession/depression.
They’re both owned.
joey 16 Apr 09
this is awesome!
charly 16 Apr 09
no response to checkmate, just start a new campain and forget the old one.
Joe M 16 Apr 09
Next Play for Audi… Billboard with R8 higher up on the hill… “Come on up when you’re ready to play with the big boys”.
Lonnie 16 Apr 09
Response Small crowd/group all looking left at what is recognizable as a portion of an Audi…no message…simply a representation of BMW being disregarded.
Jay Belknap 16 Apr 09
Flawless victory.
Akai 16 Apr 09
Maybe something Akin to Happy’s response.
“how about a new game…Le Mans”
Talk about the 8 time winning R8, 3 time winning R10 , and then have a picture of the new R15 .
r15 for reference…in the middle
Luke 16 Apr 09
I had two thoughts both based around the use of the ending ‘mate’ in order to change the ‘game’ and make BMW ’s ad appear out of touch or otherwise dull:
Ultimate – matched with the RS8 I suppose despite it not being released yet, or just a shot of the car doing something a little wild
Playmate – matched with a Heffner-esque guy in a robe lustfully gazing at the Audi or something similar to that (rather than having women be the object of his affection and distracting from the car)
Bryan 16 Apr 09
Audi’s next move should be to bench their ad agency for that hanging curve that BMW just smacked out of the park.
jbjur 16 Apr 09
Learning the rules is easy. Playing by the shouldn’t be. Chess. Bored. The new Audi A4
Ryan 16 Apr 09
For what it’s worth, there isn’t going to be an RS8 , rather the official name is R8 V10 .
Gerrit 16 Apr 09
What an absurd discussion!... The ads are funny unquestionable, but the game isn’t fair. Don’t compare BMW ’s topmodel against a standard wagon of Audi.. that sucks. What if Audi showed the R8 V10 .. BMW doesn’t even has something in that class and price range. Don’t get me wrong, I like both cars but the comparison is just lame.
Milo 16 Apr 09
What a masterstroke by BMW , there’s no recovery from that. Audi’s tail has been stapled between their legs from where I’m sitting.
Curt 16 Apr 09
Audi should run a counter “Game Changer” or change semantic context. “Attracts the most beautiful mates”
art 16 Apr 09
Gerrit, what the x%x *# are you talking about? The car audi shows is an A4 and the BMW is a 3 series. They are in the SAME class.
John 16 Apr 09
Audi got owned. Take down the ad. Even with a clever come back, BMW showed brilliance by doing what they did and Audi can’t recover well from that.
Ryan Ripley 16 Apr 09
Personally, I think it would be cool if the Audi dealership put up a sign that said, “Well played.” They lost this round. May as well gracefully admit it and get ready for the next one.
Deb S 16 Apr 09
Tactical marketing at its best! Priceless!
Bob Polan 16 Apr 09
Going out to sell some advertising now. You folks are inspireing. Is that spelled right?
Dan 16 Apr 09
If you ask me, BMW have played right into Audi’s hands here. The intent of the original poster is to get potential BMW buyers to consider an Audi as a viable alternative, yes? Just by the act of responding to the challenge BMW are validating that proposition. It doesn’t matter that they claim victory in the wording of the poster; what matters to consumers is that by even taking up the challenge BMW is unintentionally raising Audi up to their level: what this poster really communicates is ‘rather than brush off such a pathetic challenge from an inferior competitor, we’re actually a bit scared they might be as good as us’. Not such a victory if you ask me.
katie 16 Apr 09
That’s awesome! We just got goosebumps.
Martin Kulakowski 16 Apr 09
Audi’s next move (img)
Ryan Ripley 16 Apr 09
@DAN: You are pretending that people put that much thought into billboards… To 99% of the general population it will look like BMW bitch-smacked Audi…
BTW : I’m an Audi fan, and hate BMW ’s…
Chance 16 Apr 09
I hope Audi hears about this and responds. They would both benefit from the back and forth. At least it would add a smile to some faces passing by everyday. More than you can say for the American car companies.
Hyundai 16 Apr 09
They both suck and why do Audi drivers never use the turn signal?
Don Schenck 16 Apr 09
Time for Cadillac to put up an ad with the CTS -V and something along the lines of “We don’t play games”.
MatG 16 Apr 09
What they need to do is this; Have those cars side by side- with their respective prices scribed onto the wind shields. And have,
Game Over.
TheStory 16 Apr 09
You hire a local artist to sabotage the BMW billboard and do something creative to put Audi back in the game… CHECKMATE !
Moe 16 Apr 09
I would put the bold Audi S4 Quattro 2009 and say “come get me”.
Christine 16 Apr 09
How do you keep someone in check? Audi needs to change the game – your move doesn’t have to be about chess.
christefano 16 Apr 09
If I were Audi, I’d find some test or metric to support a response like, “Beats BMW , two out of three, every time.” Or switch from chess to go.
@Joshua Blankenship: You’re right. This targets 16-something college guys.
Dave 16 Apr 09
I agree with Dan – they should have taken more of a Bentley approach
smurf 16 Apr 09
only dweebs drive BMW ’s
Don Schenck 16 Apr 09
@smurf: how are those grapes? ... a bit sour??
I drove a 2002 in high school back in 1975. Yeah, an epic car.
JF 16 Apr 09
Time for Cadillac to put up an ad with the CTS -V and something along the lines of “We don’t play games”.
Great call, Don. This is an opportunity for another brand to drop in.
Jimmy Chan 17 Apr 09
I thought this topic about Audi will do, not Cadillac..
Simply, Audi put down those “your move” ad. People will confuse what BMW are talking about.. Checkmate? Are BMW will finished their product lines? BMW kill themself
Film Michigan 17 Apr 09
This is from my friends at a company called Juggernaut Advertising
http://www.juggernautadvertising.com
Film Michigan http://tinyurl.com/filmmichigan
Pavel Pichardo 17 Apr 09
@Milo, your totally right.
@bob “Wrong game. King me.” ... good answer.
Billy 17 Apr 09
Americans shouldn’t buy this import crap, buy GM, Ford or Chrysler.
Adam 17 Apr 09
These Ads are so refreshing. Great advertising teams at work.
@Billy I’ll buy a Domestic POS when they decide to ditch the unions, and step up their game. Oh, and learn how to design.
Milo 17 Apr 09
Billy, I’m British so our long-running quarrel with the Germans is well known to say the least. But it has to be said that German cars are the best in the world, with no exception. Well, our own Aston Martins, Bentleys and Rolls Royces give a decent account of themselves.
Scratch that, we here in Britain make the best cars. Argue with that.
Allen 17 Apr 09
Volkswagen AG owns Bentley, and Audi, Ford owned Aston Martin and BMW owns Rolls Royce.
Michael 17 Apr 09
@Akai: “how about a new game…Le Mans”
BMW will counter with their Formula 1 car, an even bigger boy’s game that Audi isn’t in.
@Gerrit:
The M3 is not BMW ’s top-most model. They still have the M5, M6, etc. which compare against higher end Audis.
This is great advertising. I’m a die-hard BMW guy (own 1 now, have had 5, frequently auto-x and track day driver) but I have no ill will towards Audi. Or Porsche. I’d gladly drive any of them, or even a Mercedes (AMG only) ;)
Fred Simmons 17 Apr 09
Calvin peeing on a BMW logo. Obviously!
Alex 17 Apr 09
Awesome! Nice find
ariel Seidman 17 Apr 09
The other way to look at this is that Audi accomplished what they wanted - they reeled BMW into a conversation/debate.
Steve Patti 17 Apr 09
Audi’s might think about a more direct ad strategy such as:
“Hey BMW , when it comes to ALMS victories—who’s your daddy?”
jaya 18 Apr 09
” A BOARD GAME -CHECKMATE ” LOOK WHO IS RUNNING THE SHOW !!!!!
Peter Hawkins 18 Apr 09
Brilliant strategy by bmw. If the Bently ad is true, that really is a phenominal show of balls. Agree with a few here that audi should put up the R8 and say ‘We’re not playing games anymore!’
ian 18 Apr 09
Audi response: Anything that keeps BMW playing back and forth with them. They control the conversation now.
That said the response is brilliant. Both brands will benefit.
Kurtosis 18 Apr 09
Audi response (new sign): Well played, BMW . Double or nothing?
picture: R8
Melvin Ram 18 Apr 09
Tesla: Grandma & Grandpa, I’m home.
But I doubt that they want to piss off BMW & Audi just yet.
Jim Luning 18 Apr 09
Alexander Roy and M5 is all I’m sayin…
Kevin Halliburton 18 Apr 09
Audi’s next billboard should counter with two checks, one written out to the Audi dealer for the cost of the Audi and the other written out to a BMW dealer for the cost of the Beamer. Caption?
“Yea, we got your check, Mate.”
List the features side-by-side with a big red check-mark and write “check” next to Audi’s name on each one.
By the way Audi, change jar’s on the piano if you’re so inclined – Thanks, Kevin
faceless technologies 18 Apr 09
love the conversation. great ideas from many. love the idea of a competitor to enter the arena and own it all. (cadilac concept stated above) and the fact that as stated above, maybe audi just wanted a response from anyone who felt threatened by the consumer market that is buying their vehicles. BMW responded, showing their concern or equality on some level of the playing field. Got to love when people are talking/blogging/chatting/posting about the marketing ideas a company puts out. classic.
www.twitter.com/WeAreMarketing
Saud 19 Apr 09
well… I think adding going with the cars isn’t that effective. personally, I like A4 more than 3-series but M3 is better for sure. audi is targeting 3-series excluding the M3.
anyway, I think in this case, just putting a price tag on top of A4 will do ;)
Michael Reinhart 19 Apr 09
“I’ll see your M3 and raise you an R8 V10 .”
Anonymous Coward 19 Apr 09
You must admit, the Audi people should have seen that coming. I mean, come on. I would have said that on my billboard.
Rahul 20 Apr 09
Just remove ‘your move’!
Anonymous Coward 20 Apr 09
@Kevin Halliburton, bloody brilliant!
Carrie Brancheau 20 Apr 09
Love BMW ’s billboard. Kevin Halliburton, very clever!
Carrie Brancheau 20 Apr 09
Love, BMW billboard and Kevin Halliburton’s idea is very clever!
IE 21 Apr 09
You could always have Mercedes crash the party with a “Come on kids, off to bed…” jab.
Or, and do pardon my slightly objectionable humour, Jaguar could go nuts and scrawl “Oi, silly buggers – no more ‘o them war-games in the former colonies yeah! Don’t make me come over there…” or suchlike.
The best though, trust me on this, would be Bentley again flippin’ birds both ways!
Muhahaha
C18 21 Apr 09
Lexus ISF :
“Shogi anyone?”
C18 21 Apr 09
Alfa Romeo Brera GTA :
(Printed on this picture here.)
“Not bad.”
“Still…”
Matt 22 Apr 09
“Mind if I play through?” with an image of a chessboard knocked over, back of the audi in the bg.
This discussion is closed.