16-24 October, 2011. Gurgaon, India.

Guest Count: 1000+.

With BMW holding on to its No. 1 position in the luxury brand market, it was very keen to look at an event experience for the launch of its rugged SUV X3 brand that would shake up the industry and clearly demonstrate its market leadership.

An off-beat event idea, never done before, at least in India, an event experience that had everyone mesmerised and a post-event media blitz that saw the media going gaga for weeks even after the launch experience got over. An “Xperience” that will be etched in the minds for a long, long time, surely!

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Global auto major BMW has been driving change in a highly competitive marketplace through continually enhancing the aspirational driving experience.

Founded in 1917, the BMW Group is now one of the ten largest car manufacturers in the world and, with its BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands, possesses three of the strongest premium brands in the car industry.

Indeed, the BMW brand is often cited as one of the ‘best’ in the world and the company continues to launch a stream of innovative products through enthralling on-ground experiences for its prospective buyers.

A first-of-its-kind event for BMW in India, the BMW Xperience involved two broad aspects. One was to create a 10-obstacle track for the test drive that showcased each of the xDrive features and off-road capabilities.

The other was the X3 launch event which took place in a 55m x 30m x 9m hangar that was specially created within the 60-feet deep excavated site!

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The main launch event saw participation of over a thousand VIPs, future prospects, BMW owners and ten Facebook contest winners.

The media session next day saw a turnout of over 250 scribes, reporters and photographers (spanning national as well as regional press, electronic as well as internet media) from across India.

The event was recreated over the next eight days that enabled batches of prospective customers to take test drives. This extended period saw a total participation of more than 400 prospects.

16 – 24 October 2011. A total of nine days in all. And over 1000 ecstatic guests! THE

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The event objectives. And how we met them!With BMW holding on to its No. 1 position in the luxury car market, it was very keen to look at an event experience for the launch of its rugged SUV X3 brand that would shake up the industry and clearly demonstrate its market leadership.

It is also relevant to mention at this point that traditionally, BMW does not believe in doing hotel-ballroom events and invariably prefers an off-beat location. Finding such a location was a challenge in itself in Delhi NCR that offers almost zero options other than hotels or at best a Golf Club lawn.

Realising the challenge, BMW opened this event to a multi-agency pitch for the first time in almost 5 years of its existence in this country.

We decided that if we could find a great venue, we were more than half-way there. And when we found an abandoned site spread over 32 acres excavated till 60 feet below the ground, we knew we had a killer of a venue!

An off-beat location to make people sit up and take notice, an event experience designed to endear through engagement. In short, a shake-up act!

The rest, as they say, is history. How else does one describe an event 60 feet down under which had a specially created, expansive 10-acre, 10-obstacle test track (Experience Zone), dramatic reveal of the track through a live feed, a spectacular, high-energy performance by Australian troupe Raw Bang announcing the reveal of the X3that actually left the amazed spectators thirsting for a personal test-drive experience!

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Challenges encountered. And surmounted!The event team on the site surmounted several daunting challenges to create what was a first-of-its-kind live experience in India.

The fact that there was no access to the site did not deter us and we actually built a road leading down to the bottom of the venue.

The vagaries of nature stepped in to add their own challenges, with the heaviest rainfall in the last 59 years in the region that transformed the venue into a virtual lake. Nearly two hundred 6000-litre tankers were pressed into service to drain the water out! The terrain itself proved rather hostile as it often sank because of the sheer weight put on top of it and hence had to be reinforced. The team also had to contend with mounds of flying dust through the entire duration of the preparation of the venue.

4600 cubic metres of earth was used to shore up an area of 115 metres by 40 metres in order to create a level, raised area to set up the hangar. Almost 1500 cubic metres of earth was used to create the ten acre, ten-obstacle test track, which was demanding enough to be completed only with the xDrive. Experts from Thailand were contracted to create the marvel that the test track actually turned out to be. Six heavy earth-moving machines were pressed into service continuously for close to sixty days to create the unusual launch venue, which also involved the movement of over 240 dumper-loads of earth.

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What makes this event unique, distinctive & professionally executedAn off-beat location and a unique and first-of-its-kind launch idea, exploited to the max. How else can one describe this shake-up act sixty feet below ground level spread over thirty two acres of land that simply awed each guest!

The BMW Xperience was a first-of-its-kind launch event in the history of the Indian automobile industry and it actually has been unofficially acknowledged in the industry circles as a shake-up act.

The media coverage that the event received was actually quite spectacular and we had a client who was literally over the moon with the results of what he later admitted was a risk that even his boss was not keen on taking!

Factors that contributed to the uniqueness of this event:A hawk’s eye for detailing. Stage-wise briefings; we actually structured the live experience into multiple subsets, with teams dedicated to each subset. Right from the venue entry point to the personalised shuttle of guests down to the main event area and the actual event experience, each touch-point was transformed into a seamless experience of delight for the esteemed guests. The video should say it all!!!

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Demonstration of value for budget spentIn this part of the world, more than a habit, it is almost a custom to negotiate in any business transaction and strike a mutually beneficial bargain.

The BMW Xperience event is a perfect demonstration of this hard fact. On the one level, we managed to elicit reasonable concessions from our vendor partners. The off-beat venue, itself, was made available to us at a highly attractive budget, given our close ties with the owners.

On the other level, for the actual budget spent, we managed to get more than 1000 future BMW prospects from across the country to congregate at the event venue and actually experience the X3 first hand, a feat in its own right! A similar scenario might not have been possible in an above-the-line communication exercise which, anyways, would entail substantially higher investments sans the first-hand experience!

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The daunting 32-acre venue, 60 feet down under and the specially laid 10-acre test track

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The strikingly lit event entry point with the guest reception marquee in the backdrop

Road specially built to descend 60 feet down under!

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The special BMW shuttle cars to drive the guests down to the main event area

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Raw Bang’s spectacular performance and the dramatic reveal of the test-track live from the Experience Zone

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A guest negotiates one of the obstacles at the test-track

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The thirty–foot high uphill challenge

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The making of the event:The venue in its raw form

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The making of the event: The venue after the first clean-up

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The making of the event: The test-track being created

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The making of the event: The event hangar under construction

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Media coverage

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