The Objective
BMW, a world-class automobile brand, sought to promote its Plug-in Hybrid car, the BMW eDRIVE, in South Korea. The brand collaborated with popular K-Pop musician and TikTok creator Henry to launch its "e-ideal Vibe" campaign. The focal point of the campaign was Henry's creativity in producing a remix of the popular song "Thunder" by Imagine Dragons using only sounds from the BMW eDRIVE.
The Solution
The campaign centered around Henry recording sounds from the BMW eDRIVE, such as tapping on the hood or plugging in the electric charger, then editing and looping those sounds to create the remix. This served as the basis for the #BMWeDRIVE Branded Hashtag Challenge.
To kick off the challenge, Henry and five other TikTok creators called on users to create various types of videos. Using a sample of Henry's remixed soundtrack, participants in the challenge were encouraged to get creative. The were allowed to freely come up with fun ways to dance to the BMW version of Thunder, or even replicate Henry's method of creating music and sharing it with the world.
To support the Hashtag Challenge, BMW launched a series of branded solutions on TikTok, including TopView and Brand Premium In-Feed Ads for the duration of the six-day campaign.
The Results
The #BMWeDrive Branded Hashtag Challenge was unique - there was “No sticker, No Dance, No Transformation." BMW left it entirely up to users to put their creativity caps on and create content to their heart's desire. And it worked. The campaign attracted 45.99M video views from 3,400 participants. It also drove 6.29 million engagements. Best of all, this campaign reached beyond the South Korean market with participation from as many as 49 countries around the world.
Campaign Details
BMW partnered with a famous K-pop violinist and TikTok creator, Henry, to create a catchy sound for the challenge. The concept: Henry recorded various sounds made by the BMW eDrive (the whir of the electric motor, seatbelt clicks, etc.) and mixed them into a music beat. The challenge encouraged TikTok users to create videos using this soundtrack – either dancing to it, imitating Henry’s music creation, or otherwise showcasing creativity with the BMW eDrive theme. Alongside the hashtag challenge, BMW ran TopView ads and Brand Premium In-Feed Ads to ensure the campaign got maximum visibility during its run. The TopView likely showed a short clip of Henry performing with the BMW and invited users to check out the challenge.
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Influencer Involvement: In addition to Henry, five other TikTok creators were enlisted to lead the way by posting their #BMWeDRIVE videos, demonstrating different ways to play with the sound (one might dance, another might pretend to DJ with car sounds, etc.). This seeded the trend with diverse content.
Results: The six-day campaign was a smash hit. It attracted about 46 million video views from roughly 3,400 participating user videos created
. Those videos collectively generated 6.29 million engagements (likes, comments, shares) – indicating that even people who didn’t make their own video were enjoying the content. Notably, although targeted in Korea, the challenge spread internationally (videos came in from 49 different countries), giving BMW global bonus exposure. While you can’t buy a car through TikTok, the campaign successfully drove mass awareness and positive brand association with innovation and fun. BMW likely saw lifts in brand metrics and perhaps an uptick in inquiries or foot traffic to dealerships for the hybrid models (though specific lift stats weren’t shared, the sheer engagement implies strong impact). This case shows that even for high-cost, offline products like cars, TikTok can create buzz. The keys here were music and movement – aligning a car’s promotion with a TikTok-friendly activity (a music remix challenge) made it engaging. It didn’t feel like a car commercial; it felt like a cool music trend, which just so happened to feature a BMW. Any brand that can find that synergy with TikTok culture can replicate this success.
Campaign Details
BMW partnered with a famous K-pop violinist and TikTok creator, Henry, to create a catchy sound for the challenge. The concept: Henry recorded various sounds made by the BMW eDrive (the whir of the electric motor, seatbelt clicks, etc.) and mixed them into a music beat. The challenge encouraged TikTok users to create videos using this soundtrack – either dancing to it, imitating Henry’s music creation, or otherwise showcasing creativity with the BMW eDrive theme. Alongside the hashtag challenge, BMW ran TopView ads and Brand Premium In-Feed Ads to ensure the campaign got maximum visibility during its run. The TopView likely showed a short clip of Henry performing with the BMW and invited users to check out the challenge.
-
Influencer Involvement: In addition to Henry, five other TikTok creators were enlisted to lead the way by posting their #BMWeDRIVE videos, demonstrating different ways to play with the sound (one might dance, another might pretend to DJ with car sounds, etc.). This seeded the trend with diverse content.
Results
The six-day campaign was a smash hit. It attracted about 46 million video views from roughly 3,400 participating user videos created
. Those videos collectively generated 6.29 million engagements (likes, comments, shares) – indicating that even people who didn’t make their own video were enjoying the content. Notably, although targeted in Korea, the challenge spread internationally (videos came in from 49 different countries), giving BMW global bonus exposure. While you can’t buy a car through TikTok, the campaign successfully drove mass awareness and positive brand association with innovation and fun. BMW likely saw lifts in brand metrics and perhaps an uptick in inquiries or foot traffic to dealerships for the hybrid models (though specific lift stats weren’t shared, the sheer engagement implies strong impact).
This case shows that even for high-cost, offline products like cars, TikTok can create buzz. The keys here were music and movement – aligning a car’s promotion with a TikTok-friendly activity (a music remix challenge) made it engaging. It didn’t feel like a car commercial; it felt like a cool music trend, which just so happened to feature a BMW. Any brand that can find that synergy with TikTok culture can replicate this success.