Advertisement Review: BMW vs Audi billboard war- game over blimp

Let me begin by explaining what is going on here.
For those of you not familiar with this situation, it went as follows:
1. Audi produced a billboard nudging their biggest competitor, BWM (Far left). They believed that they their A4 sedan could hold its own in the over-saturated marketplace and decided to put it up to the test. With confidence, they erected an ad that simply said 'Your turn BMW".

2. BWM took its turn. Shortly after Audi's trolling billboard, an ad for BMW's M3 appeared just across the street. It read "Checkmate". This was a great come back and a fantastic way of achieving earned media.

The competition soon went viral and Audi started asking facebook users for Photoshopped mock ups of ads that could stand up to the new 'Checkmate' billboard. Hundreds of entries poured in and the internet was bursting with news of the California billboard war. The most popular two ads that came out of it hosted the tags 'Think again' and 'Check yourself'. That is... until this one came along: (shown above).

3. When most thought the game was over Audi came back at BWM with a picture of their infamous Audi R8 and the statement 'Your pawn is no match for our king'. This threw blogging into a whole whirl-wind of updates and excitement, and pushed advertising into a whole new light, which I will touch on later. Whether or not this design was one of the Facebook Photoshop winners or if Audi's creative team were the brains behind it, I hope they got the recognition they deserved.

Again people thought the war would be over, it had been a good, entertaining battle and both companies were now in the public mind more then ever. Spoiler Alert - It didn't stop there.

4. BMW made one more 'move' that would shut down the billboard war once and for all; showing a car, their car, that topped anything the competitor had. A car that grabbed attention on its own and that people loved. This car was shown in a place that would be seen by all, a place that could not easily be topped, like the car itself, and a place that utilized a previously undervalued medium. A blimp was tied above Audi's 'King' ad and read 'Game Over'. And it was. This car, was BMW's F1.

And that was the end. The billboard war was over. Both manufacturers had a fair go at it and I'd say both they succeeded, and not only in sales. As I touched on earlier, this war was a key player, or 'pawn' in earning advertising back some respect and nudging it closer to it's golden rule: In order to respectfully 'sell', one must also entertain. The war entertained not only it's viewers, it entertained the online world for months, and years if this blog tells you anything. It successfully achieved earned media and was published all over blogs, respected webpages (such as Ads of the World), and even warranted an article in the New york Times (Which i recommend you read for the full back story).

Before I start I would like to say that this was a great place for the war to end.
On that note, this is my idea for the next step:

When I saw the blimp with the F1 on it I thought of one thing: an explosion. Utilizing this could have been a great next step for BMW and given them a chance to talk about their superior safety ratings. Unfortunately when people think of blimps they think of fire. When people think of F1's they think of crashes which sometimes result in fire.

Would it be going too far for Audi to put a ground level ad saying something along the lines of "Hindenburg? Formula one? Audi ***** safety rating - We don't take chances with your life"*.
*Billboards are supposed to have a max of 7 words. Passing cars are only able to see a billboard picture, read 7 words, and recognize a logo in the few seconds before passing by.

That would be my idea for the next step: What would yours be?

As for who won? I am slightly torn. I believe that Audi deserves credit since they started it, got hit back, and then made the choice to step up. However BMW took the initiative to retaliate and go 'above' and beyond what anyone expected.
As a supporter for the underdog I would usually pick Audi for it's courage, but as an advocate for advertising I have to go with BMW.

Thank you for visiting my page. I hope that you learned a thing or two and that I was able to spark some interest into the depths of advertising.

If you would like to see more of my work or are interested in hiring a freelance writer for your next project, please visit my website at www.smakmedia.co.