AdFreak BMW Creates a Folk Hero for the Modern Age: the Unstoppable, Mysterious Ol’ McLanden GS&P turns the obstacles of a daily commute into an odysseyBy Amy Corr|February 15, 2019 Metaphorical villains of all stripes try to thwart Ol' McLanden.BMWShare By Amy Corr|February 15, 2019 Share For the launch of the X7, its first standard seven-seat vehicle, BMW catches viewers with a whale of a tale—a poem about a new folk legend: Ol’ McLanden. This fictional, larger-than-life character comes alive in “Legend,” a 75-second spot created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners, BMW’s agency of record since April 2018. Star Trek actor Chris Pine, the voice of BMW for years, reads a poem about badass McLanden, who “outraced the rogues around Razorback Ridge and the trolls who dug holes on the Barnaby Bridge.” The poem has an old-timey tone, while the ad is set in present-day, over-the-top traffic scenarios. And the ad’s final reveal feels suitably modern as well: “In a car like the X7, an ordinary day becomes legendary at every turn,” says Roger Baran, creative director at GS&P. In the metaphor-rich ad, McLanden is chased out of the city by a stampede of bankers, and escapes the wrath of Poseidon, who is actually a city worker who opened a fire hydrant. The character drives through dockyards, construction sites and steers clear of a gang of Mad Max bikers. McLanden drives to a private school and picks up a handful of kids, soon after revealed to be a woman. “Make everyday legendary,” closes the ad, officially launching Feb. 18. “It [the X7] boasts all the luxury and power of a BMW, despite its size,” says Baran. “So we turned upside down the idea that this is an epic BMW that defies the norm to create a legend that has never been heard of, a normal commute from work to home but taken to epic proportions. And that’s how we came up with ‘Legend,’ a folktale praising the heroics of an unknown hero named McLanden. The hero could be any one of us.” A 60-second version of the spot will run during the Oscars, in addition to movie theaters across the U.S. Here’s a look behind hte scenes at how the ad was made: CREDITS: Agency: Goodby Silverstein & Partners Client: BMW of North America BMW: Vice President of Marketing BMW of North America: Trudy Hardy Head of Brand Strategy and Communication BMW of North America: Wolfgang Gross National Marketing Manager: Lisa Judge National Marketing Campaign & Production Manager: Neil Moreno Creative: Co-Chairman: Jeff Goodby Co-Chairman: Rich Silverstein Chief Creative Officer: Margaret Johnson Creative Director: Roger Baran Art Director: Stefan Copiz Copywriter: Andrew Bancroft Production: Director of Production: Tod Puckett Executive Producer: Benton Roman Account Services: Group Account Director: Theo Abel Account Director: Alissa Sheely Account Manager: Olivia Mullen Assistant Account Manager: Rebecca Bell Project Manager: Kaitlyn Landers Brand and Communication Strategy: Group Communication Strategy Director: Dong Kim Sr. Brand Strategist: Mackenzie Beer Business Affairs: Broadcast Traffic Director: Ruchele Eisenman Senior Business Affairs Manager: Chrissy Shearer Production Company: MJZ President: David Zander Senior Executive Producer: Eriks Krumins Director: Dante Ariola Producer: Natalie Hill Director of Photography: Kasper Tuxen Production Designer: Nigel Phelps AD: John Lowe Editorial Company: Work Editorial Editor: Rich Orrick Assistant Editor: Theo Mercado Senior Producer: Jamie Lynn Perritt / Brandee Probasco Executive Producer: Marlo Baird Telecine: MPC LA Colorist: Mark Gethin Executive Producer, Color: Meghan Lang Color Producer: Rebecca Boorsma VFX/Finishing: MPC LA Creative Director: Michael Gregory Shoot Supervisors: Michael gregory, Dan Seddon CG Supervisors: Ryan McDougal, Tim Kafka, Josh Hatton, Nishanth Shrinivasa, Boyo Frederix Lead Compositor: Toya Drechsler Compositors: Rodrigo Jimenez, Guillaume Weiss, Alexander Kulikov, Dylan Brown, Concept Art/DMP: Jason Heinze, Abhilash A, Bala Krishnan R, Geetesh Tari Mohan Rao, Srinivas Achary, Silvia Bartoli, Sachin Sureshrao Dhapudkar PreVis: Alex Moon CG Animation: Srikar Balakrishnan, D. Venkatesan, Carl Edlund, Sashdy Arvelo CG FX: Bhargavan SP, Prashanth Paramasivam, Andreu Lucio, Arnau Gilabert, Jinguang Huang, Andy Sheng, Nema Safvati CG Lighting: Martino Madeddu, Sumit Kumar, Asher Stusek Executive Producer: Karen Anderson Senior VFX Producer: Christian Downes VFX Coordinator: Justin Rogers-CdeBaca Producer: Mireille Antoine Line producer: Chris Preston-Barnes Continue Reading Pages: 1 2 Adweek Adweek