New agencies for the European marketing activities of the BMW and MINI brands.

Munich. The BMW Group is reorganising its European marketing activities for its BMW and MINI brands. The related call for tenders initiated in February 2020 by the BMW Marketing and Purchasing departments reflects the consistent evolution of BMW Group Sales and Marketing towards a data-driven and customer-oriented organisation. By consolidating contents and centralising the European agency and partner network, the BMW Group is establishing an extremely efficient, high-performance marketing engine capable of supporting individualised and modern customer relationship management across all touchpoints for both the BMW and MINI brands. This will enable the organisation to better anticipate the wishes and requirements of existing and prospective customers, with the aim of offering timely, individually and contextually relevant information at each step of the customer journey. As a result, the quality of the customer experience and sense of orientation within the brands’ overall ecosystems will be considerably upgraded. The system is focused on advanced customer data analytics, highly automated production and delivery of communications media, digital media and strong e‑commerce support. The aim is to enhance Marketing input in the areas of vehicle sales, aftersales services and digital services and leverage efficiencies.

“Our decision to select ‘THE ENGINE’ as our new agency constellation for all of Europe clearly dovetails with our claim to provide the best premium customer experience within the automotive industry,” explains Pieter Nota, Member of the Board of Management of BMW AG, Customer, Brands, Sales. “In the process, we are steadily expanding our expertise in the digitalisation of customer, brand and sales pathways and are thus investing in the future of our commitment to providing customers with a source of joy in their lives. I would like to express my gratitude to all those who participated in the pitch stage; everyone delivered professional presentations they’d put their heart and soul into.”

Transnational agency operating system for all 26 European markets.
“This system will comprehensively integrate the classic marketing disciplines of strategy, creation and production with all relevant aspects of the customer journey – while elevating them to a high-tech level. In practice, this includes all areas of data-driven performance marketing and analytics, marketing automation, programmatic media and CRM support,” says Jens Thiemer, Senior Vice President Customer & Brand, BMW. “In addition, we are consolidating the management of web operations and e‑commerce within our new agency operating system.” The fully transnational system will cover all 26 European markets including Germany.

A high-performance marketing engine that eliminates friction.
The future unit will bear the project name “THE ENGINE”. It is a new partner network made up of S4 Capital/Mediamonks, the Serviceplan Group and Berylls Strategy Advisors. At the heart of the new constellation will be the Dutch agency Mediamonks with its highly automated and data-based creative and production skills. The Serviceplan Group will be responsible for the technological and data-driven components as well as management of the local interfaces to support marketing-as-a-service responsibilities. Berylls Strategy Advisors will take on responsibility for the transformation and onboarding of the markets. “‘THE ENGINE’ has given the BMW Group the opportunity to not only secure efficiencies and synergies but also improve innovation, flexibility and quality,” says Ralf Hattler, Senior Vice President Indirect Purchasing. Local Service Hubs will be installed to serve as direct contacts for the national BMW Group subsidiaries in the various markets. “THE ENGINE” will complement the existing international agency hubs for China and the US. The new agency configuration will become operational as soon as the third quarter of this year and start by serving the two large markets of Germany and France.