After a year of negative news about the auto industry and its affect on Canadian newspapers comes a bit of joy for the print medium with a consecutive, six-page buy from BMW in the Globe and Mail. ‘It represented good value for us to make a statement like this, at this time of year and with these topics. So we figure it’s a good, strategic use of our money,’ Marc Belcourt, brand communications manager, BMW Canada, tells MiC.

The campaign, developed by Cundari with media handled by Media Experts, is a follow-up to BMW’s recent promotion of its two vehicles, X5 M and X6 M, that Belcourt says will help link ‘five different topics of conversation’ consumers may have seen in previous campaigns this year, and also help tell the ‘story of joy.’ The campaign also features a sentimental video at www.bmw.ca/joy that will air on specialty channels like History, Food Network and Bravo for the next six weeks.

‘It has more of a human element than we’ve seen in the past, and more of an emotional element as well,’ says Belcourt. ‘It was also, to our knowledge, the first time the Globe and Mail has had an advertisement in the A3 position.’

The ad, which appeared in the Globe last Thursday, starts with a statement of what joy means to BMW, then moves into the company’s heritage, achievements since 1929 and then the products. Additional placements will be seen in the newspaper in coming weeks.