BMW films go from screen to page

BMW of North America's wildly popular "The Hire" online film series takes a new turn today, when select retailers start selling the debut issue of a brand extension, "The Driver" comic book series, based on the same protagonist. The automaker is partnering with Dark Horse Comics, Milwaukie, Ore., for six issues and a bound paperback compilation of the series next year.

"We were approached by a few comic companies,' said Bruce Bildstein, creative director at BMW's agency, Publicis Groupe's Fallon, Minneapolis, one of the key architects of the online films. Dark Horse was tapped because of its cult-like following. Plus, he said, it had "a profile that was most BMW-film-like."

The marketer's celebrated 2001 online film series, still available for viewing on bmwusa.com, has become an archetype for entertainment marketing that generates buzz as well as—in this case—moves metal.

Just as BMW hired high-profile film directors for its short online films, it's letting Dark Horse line up some of the genre's leading talent for each story. Matt Wagner wrote and drew the first comic, dubbed "Scandal" in which the Driver is hired to sneak a rich man's spoiled daughter out of town.

BMW had been looking for new ways to promote and extend the online film series, which included talk of both a feature film as well as a video game.

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