In 2001, before YouTube existed and long before “content marketing” became a thing, BMW found itself in a predicament. The German carmaker had no major product launches on the horizon. Its competitors, led by Mercedes-Benz and Lexus, were pushing hard in North America. Traditional advertising, full-page magazine spreads, and glossy TV spots suddenly felt too predictable.
It was during this lull that a group of marketers at BMW North America, led by Vice-President of Marketing Jim McDowell, made what many considered a bold and baffling move: they decided to make films. Moving away from the traditional ads and promos, they went ahead with a series of short films to be distributed for free on the Internet.
The idea gave rise to The Hire, a series of eight web-based action thrillers starring Clive Owen as a nameless driver-for-hire. Each episode, directed by auteurs like Ang Lee, Wong Kar-wai, John Frankenheimer and Guy Ritchie, was a high-octane, standalone story where a BMW wasn’t just product placement, it was a character in the plot.
The episodes were streamed through a custom-built video player on BMW’s website because YouTube didn’t exist yet. Bandwidth was limited. Watching one 10-minute film could take over an hour on dial-up. But the audience came. And then they told their friends too.
The series captured an ambitious anthology of eight short films, each showcasing The Driver (Clive Owen) navigating a range of morally complex missions, from high-stakes chases to quiet psychological dramas. John Frankenheimer’s Ambush delivers taut, old-school action with finesse, while Ang Lee’s Chosen blends chase with choreography in a tonally curious entry.
Wong Kar-wai’s The Follow, the series’ artistic pinnacle, shifts gears into emotional noir, offering introspection over adrenaline. Guy Ritchie’s Star, a tongue-in-cheek misfire featuring Madonna, lacks narrative elegance and leans into gimmickry.
Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Powder Keg attempted political heft but stumbles under its weight. Season two began with John Woo’s Hostage, which devolved into generic action-TV territory, and Joe Carnahan’s Ticker ups the spectacle but falters with bloated pacing.
Finally, Tony Scott’s Beat the Devil, a surreal, hyper-stylised drag race with the Devil, embraced excess but veers too far from the series’ core.
A film festival, not an ad campaign
In many ways, The Hire wasn’t a campaign at all, it was a digital film festival underwritten by an automaker. “We treated the viewer like an intelligent participant, not a sales target,” a senior creative from Fallon Worldwide, BMW’s agency, later said.
And the audience rewarded that respect. Over 100 million views were recorded, a staggering number in the early 2000s. BMW’s U.S. sales rose by 9% in the first year of the campaign. What made the series so effective was not just star power or slick production. It was the inversion of the advertising model: story first, sales later. The Driver, cool, calm, moral yet mysterious, was a human extension of BMW’s identity.
“BMW’s ‘The Hire’ was a visionary move that redefined branded content long before platforms like YouTube even existed. It treated the audience not as consumers but as viewers—blending cinematic storytelling with brand identity. By putting narrative before product, BMW not only broke through the clutter but also built lasting emotional equity. It’s a masterclass in how powerful storytelling can drive brand love and real business results,” Yasin Hamidani, Director, Media Care Brand Solutions, told financialexpress.com.
A legacy still on the road
Nearly two decades later, The Hire continues to be taught in marketing classrooms and referenced at industry panels. Its influence can be seen in everything from Apple’s cinematic ads to the long-form branded content of Red Bull and Nike.
In 2016, BMW even revived The Hire with a ninth episode, The Escape, reaffirming the character’s cult status and the campaign’s staying power. But in many ways, the original series remains unmatched, both in ambition and execution.
As brands today chase algorithms and attention spans measured in milliseconds, The Hire is a reminder that sometimes, giving the audience something to care about is more powerful than asking them to care. Back in 2001, before “going viral” was a thing, BMW quietly showed the world what it meant to tell a story.