BMW is the Official Mobility Partner of the 2014 Olympics

Posted by Dale Buss on January

The calendar has flipped, and so has BMW of North America—over the US Olympic bobsled team.

Even as BMW kept watch on Friday for year-end US sales-results comparisons between it and Mercedes-Benz over which brand ended up selling the most luxury cars in 2013, as BMW did in 2012 and 2011, the company also was gearing up to tout its marketing campaign around the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

The highlight of BMW’s effort clearly will be a groundbreaking branded entertainment program, titled “Driving on Ice.” The half-hour documentary—debuting Sunday, Jan. 5, at 12:30 p.m. ET on NBC, the hub for all things Olympic—highlights BMW’s complete redesign of the US two-man bobsled.

BMW was a trailblazer in branded content with its famed series of fictional video shorts several years ago, and now BMW North America is upping the ante again as it launches a series of Olympic-themed ads, consumer and retail activations, social and digital-media executions as well as the documentary. The idea is to show how “BMW unlocks the goals and dreams of consumers and athletes alike—on land and on ice,” as a press release put it.

The move also puts the BMW logo on the US Olympic bobsled team equipment and athletes, of course. It’s all part of BMW’s strategy for maintaining the pinnacle of the US luxury car business, as not only Mercedes-Benz but also Audi, Lexus and other brands keep nipping at its heels for dominance in one of the most robust portions of the strong American auto market.

“Driving on Ice” chronicles BMW’s collaboration with the USA Bobsled & Skeleton Federation to deliver a fleet of six new two-man bobsleds, applying the automaker’s world-class design and engineering expertise to help Team USA chase its first Olympic gold medal in the event since 1936. Dow Chemical similarly is helping the US luge team with its expertise this year but presumably isn’t planning a documentary on the effort.

So if viewers are looking for a Cinderella story as they watch the Sochi games, they might find one in the efforts of American bobsled and luge teams. If victory isn’t in the cards, the brands might have some explaining to do about the supremacy of their technologies.