Since BMW largely dropped their world famous ‘ultimate driving machine’ brand tag-line for the somewhat nondescript and unloved ‘Joy’, we’ve become used to the company’s show stands being plastered with the word, and all of its saccharine, brand-associative goodness. You know the kind: “Joy is efficient dynamics”, “Joy wants you to have it all”, “Joy is the new BMW X3″- there are just a few that stand out from the past few shows.
Yet here in China, it’s conspicuous by its absence. We found one solitary mention of it on the company’s stand – and it wasn’t written particularly large, or obviously placed. Which kind of begged the question, why? Ominously, underneath the main blue and white propeller that hung above the stands it read sheer driving pleasure – the tag-line phrase BMW used for a long time in some markets, as an alternative to the ultimate driving machine. So has Joy had its day? Or was it just that, given the location, Joy wasn’t felt to be the right message… or it lacked the resonance befitting of the brand? Because one thing’s for sure, the Chinese absolutely love what BMW is doing right now…
Joe Simpson
