For its latest campaign, BMW is using celebrity storytelling and music to raise awareness for its certified pre-owned program, which the automaker says remains underrecognized among potential buyers.

“BMW is an award-winning program… but we feel the word is not truly out there about the BMW Certified program as an option,” said Tim Sumter, head of certified pre-owned marketing at BMW. “We’re really trying to drive that awareness home that we are an option.”

A bright idea: The “Common Sense” campaign focuses on the logic and practicality of purchasing a certified pre-owned BMW, while maintaining the brand’s aspirational feel.

• “It just woke me up one night where I was like, 'Oh my gosh, BMW certified pre-owned. It’s common sense. Common sense. Why wouldn’t you?'” said Sumter.
• To bring the concept to life, BMW partnered with musician Common, who composed an original score and appeared in two campaign spots.
• “When I approached Common with the ‘Common Sense’ concept, he got it right away and bought into what we were trying to build,” Sumter said. “Soon after we locked in on the creative, he and his team went to work… and when we heard the original score, we were in awe.”

Photo: BMW

To reach a broad audience, the ads debuted during MLB postseason coverage last month, aligning with BMW’s Certified Sales Event from early September through October.

“For the past few years, our national commercial moment has been during the MLB playoffs and Championship Series games, and this has worked well for our business,” Sumter said.

Doing it all: While awareness is the campaign’s central objective, BMW expects it to contribute to broader brand and performance metrics.

“This creative was designed to present our BMW Certified brand as an aspirational play, but also a logical choice for people who like premium, affordable products,” Sumter said. “Of course, we have to measure certain key metrics. But at the same time, I feel like this campaign is bigger. It’s really about awareness, but it can do all those other functions.”

• This multi-functional campaign makes sense given the current ad industry climate.
• Total automotive media ad spending is expected to rise just 0.4% this year, according to an August EMARKETER forecast, forcing brands to stretch campaigns across multiple objectives.

The road ahead: BMW plans to build on the “Common Sense” campaign with future creative iterations, positioning the pre-owned program as a practical and aspirational purchase choice.

• It’s a smart move, considering the impact tariffs may have on car sales.
• Nearly a fifth (19%) of US adults say they’ll choose a used vehicle over a new one due to tariffs, but an even larger percentage (32%) will delay the purchase altogether, found CivicScience data.

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