BMW i3 Super Bowl Commercial: NewFangled Idea

Rumors about the new 60-second spot for the all-electric BMW i3 that will air during the first quarter of NBC’s broadcast of Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday February 1st, 2015 has been around for weeks. And yesterday, BMW officially premiered its commercial capturing the conversation between Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel with the famous question “what is internet?”

“In 1994, people had not yet grasped what the internet was, which is similar to how electric mobility is viewed today. Electric mobility is at a tipping point. We are on the verge of something great and we hope that with this spot, we can educate audiences about the BMW i3 and e-mobility in a fun and engaging way,” said Trudy Hardy, Vice president of Marketing, BMW of North America.

And yet, no one is well fit for the role as Katie Couric and Bryant Gumbel. “When BMW offered me the chance to turn back the clock to 1994 and make fun of Bryant — and myself — I jumped at the opportunity. The tape doesn’t lie, we weren’t exactly visionaries back then, but thankfully in 2015 we are much more adept at recognizing game-changing, environmentally friendly innovations like the BMW i3,” said Couric.

A 60-second commercial spot of Super Bowl goes for $8 million. And let’s not forget the cost of producing a Super Bowl commercial. This could be BMW’s most expensive commercial ever. “The BMW i3 Super Bowl spot is my very first commercial, and the opportunity to reunite with Katie was a no-brainer. We are not actors, and we got to be ourselves, which made it fun and easy,” said Bryant Gumbel.

The Super Bowl spot is a part of a larger campaign that will include digital and social activations, such as:

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