BMW's Mocumentary “Rampenfest”--a hoax without a punchline

There has been a fair amount of publicity around BMW's mockumentary for it's 1-series coupe. The publicity, of course, is the whole point.

However, much of the buzz has been around BMW's denial that they were the ones that created the video. Now, there is one thing to send an ad out there without any branding, and to try to feed the audience a little  with a little intrigue (it's called "murketing") but it another thing entirely when you're caught, and you deny the claim that you've produced the video.

The whole idea is to give up the choke, and admit you've produced it, right?

"We've been caught. Ha. Ha."

It is another example of marketers trying to pretend their smarter, when they really aren't.

Here's the background, for those who've yet to see the video.

BMW and its agency GSD&M produces a half-hour mockumentary called “Rampenfest.” The story line centers around a Bavarian’s town attempt to launch a new BMW 1 Series, via ramp, from Germany to the United States. They created a Web site for the fictional events planner, Franz Brendl, and the fictional Bavarian town of Oberpfaffelbachen. Several characters, including the faux film maker, got their own Facebook profiles.”

Most viewers (OK probably all) immediately realized it was a hoax, but hoaxes can be entertaining, as this video is. The car company, however, refused to acknowledge it was behind the project.

Now, the Wall Street Journal issued a postmortem on the stunt, which argues BMW could’ve faced significant backlash for its unconventional – though, these days, all too conventional – attempt at reaching younger consumers, by refusing to own the spots when they were found out.