For this year’s ad, BMW wanted a “little bit of a Hollywood movie told in one minute” with “a compelling story that makes sense, that is also providing a little bit sense of humor, but is also not too complicated to be told in one minute,” said Uwe Dreher, BMW’s vice president of marketing for North America. “We also wanted something that is not too far away from the centerpiece of the ad in the end which is the car. We needed something that has this electrifying theme.”
Goodby pitched Swarzenneger early on and BMW jumped at it, said Dreher, noting the former California governor and movie star is known for playing roles with superpowers. The brand sought to build buzz by first having Schwarzenegger tease some sort of mysterious Zeus project on his Instagram account on Jan. 27. It drew more than 1.7 million likes, including some speculation that it would be a new movie.
Dreher said he liked the fact that Schwarzenegger hasn’t been seen in a big Hollywood movie for a while. “I knew it would create additional buzz that Arnold Schwarzenegger is somehow back,” he said.
Although Schwarzenegger has been in Super Bowl ads before, the spot marks the first Big Game appearance for Hayek Pinault. In a BMW press release, she stated: “Seventy-five percent of the decisions made in a marriage about where to spend the money are made by women, and in this commercial, it is the woman who decides on the right car to get her husband back on track. Of course, the commercial is entertaining, but there is also a real human truth to it.”
Meanwhile, BMW isn’t the first German automaker to hire Schwarzenegger to hype its vehicles. In 2018, Schwarzenegger promoted rival Mercedes-Benz during an appearance at the Detroit auto show. Mercedes brought Schwarzenegger to Detroit to help launch its redesigned 2019 G class.
After then-Daimler CEO Dieter Zetsche interviewed iconic movie star about his love for the boxy ultralux SUV, Schwarzenegger put the automaker chief on the spot and asked him when the fuel-thirsty G class would go electric. Zetsche’s answer then? “Stay tuned.”
Automotive News contributed to this report.
