How to market yourself as if you were BMW. Hint: It takes a lot of C's.

In a recent interview with BMW's VP of Marketing, Dan Creed, revealed what the automaker is looking for in the agency that will win its $160M advertising account.

He used a lot of C words; specifically:

• Creativity
• Chemistry
• Collaborate
• Challenge

Creativity and Chemistry are to be expected; creativity would be a basic requirement for any great marketing team, and chemistry with any partner is vital.

Creed's point on Collaboration is music to our ears. Take note: when we work on a project, we're here to work with you!

While we have spent years in interactive marketing, we know we may be newcomers to your specific industry.  So one of our favorite things about a new project is that we get to learn about a new market segment, and dig into all the content and community around it, so that we can truly collaborate to produce the best possible campaign.

We even love two other C words that come with collaboration: "Constructive Criticism." We know every idea we present isn't going to be used. We want to hear your criticisms are well as your praise. In fact, one thing we've learned about campaigns is that if there isn't at least one idea in our list that gets negative feedback, it probably means we haven't dug deeply enough and been creative enough - and we should probably keep brainstorming.  If we don't, we risk being too shallow or conventional, and missing amazing ideas that could be just a little further off the beaten path.

Finally, a crucial part of our job is to Challenge you.

To challenge you to think more deeply about your brand, your customer, and your goals.  To challenge your brand to own its positioning more authentically and with greater passion. To challenge you to Create (another C) something new.

In a world swimming in information, with standardized 400-word press releases blasting out by the millions day in and day out, it takes innovative ideas and yes, courage, to make campaigns that stand out.

As Creed and the team behind the Ultimate Driving Machine know, to stay Current you need to be willing to accept Change.

C what we're saying?

Brand Strategist

Erna's job is to keep the narrative for the brands she manages consistent and in constant evolution, through various channels and media platforms.