A great ad slogan is more than just a catchy phrase—it’s a mission statement wrapped in a few carefully chosen words. The best of them don’t just sell a product; they define it. Think: “Just Do It,” “Where’s the Beef?” or “A Diamond is Forever.” These lines aren’t just memorable; they tap into something primal, something irresistible.
But if there’s one slogan that stands above the rest, at least in the automotive world, it’s “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” Coined in 1974 by Martin Puris for BMW, it didn’t just sell cars—it captured the very essence of what a BMW is.
At the time, BMW was in the middle of an internal revolution. The company was fighting to free itself from its long-standing (and increasingly problematic) distribution contract with Max Hoffman, the man who had single-handedly introduced the brand to the U.S. decades earlier. But by the early ’70s, BMW’s leadership—particularly Bob Lutz, then a board member for sales—realized that Hoffman’s model was holding them back. Independent distributors like him were making their own marketing decisions, leading to a fragmented brand image.
“You can’t define the brand if you have individual distributors and individual companies making up their own minds how to advertise, how to position the car, and so forth,” Lutz later recalled. “They all had different advertising agencies and the vehicles were all positioned differently, even in Europe. But despite the quasi-ineptness of some of the dealers in how they positioned the cars, the brand for some reason was so strong.” That reason? The sheer brilliance of the cars themselves. BMW had already earned a cult following in car magazines, and the product spoke for itself—what it needed was a unified voice to amplify its message.
So when BMW of North America was officially launched, Lutz knew that marketing would be everything. He put the company’s advertising account up for review, narrowing the field to three agencies: two large, well-established firms (Ted Bates and Benton & Bowles) and a scrappy upstart called Ammirati, Puris, AvRutnick (which would soon become Ammirati & Puris).
BMW gave each firm full access to executives, a serious budget, and three months to develop a pitch. In Munich, Ammirati & Puris made their case to Lutz, BMW NA’s CEO John Plant, and other key decision-makers. The first ad they presented? A simple print piece introducing a bold new tagline: The Ultimate Driving Machine.
“They loved it!” Puris recalled years later. “I think we were the only agency that understood the car BMW built.”
And what they understood was this: BMW wasn’t about luxury in the traditional sense. It wasn’t about wood trim, soft leather, or hushed cabins. It was about something far more visceral—performance. “It’s the only thing that makes an expensive car worth the money,” Puris said. “We never said ‘luxury car.’ The question [to the customer] is, how do you want to spend your money? Is it on leather and burled walnut? Or do you want to spend it on performance? The line itself selects its market.”
At first, BMW of North America had limited ability to run its own ads, as Hoffman was still technically the official importer. Instead, the brand leaned on BMW Motorsport to spread the word. When BMW’s racing team scored its first big American victory at Sebring on March 21, 1975—just a week after BMW NA’s legal battle with Hoffman was settled—the company wasted no time. They ran celebratory ads featuring the Ultimate Driving Machine tagline, and from that moment on, BMW’s marketing had a clear, undeniable identity. The brand’s performance-first message wasn’t just advertising spin—it was backed up by the product itself. “BMW put a race engine in a family car, which nobody had ever done before,” Puris explained.
Over time, the relationship between Ammirati & Puris and BMW only deepened. Puris’s team got to know the people behind the cars—the engineers, designers, and decision-makers who shaped BMW’s DNA. “The body has changed. The technology has changed. But it is still the car designed and engineered by people who love performance,” he said.
The numbers told the rest of the story. In 1974, BMW sold 15,007 cars in the U.S. By 1975, that number had jumped to 19,419. By 1976, it was 26,040. A decade later, BMW was pushing 100,000 cars per year.
“The Ammirati & Puris ads helped tremendously,” said BMW NA’s then-PR manager Tom McGurn. “At the beginning, we were trying to distinguish ourselves, and their work was brilliant. Their ads compared being involved with driving in a BMW versus going down the road on a sofa—really spot-on.” The campaign didn’t just build brand awareness; it carved out a unique space for BMW in a market dominated by Mercedes, Volvo, Jaguar, and Audi.
In 1992, BMW NA put its advertising account up for review. Ammirati & Puris, despite having built BMW’s entire U.S. identity, declined to pitch a new proposal—walking away from an account worth $70 million a year. Since then, BMW has worked with various agencies, but The Ultimate Driving Machine has endured.
And that’s no accident. Puris always knew the line had staying power. “As long as they kept building the same cars, as long as they followed the same concept of what a BMW was and is, as long as they pursued the story of extraordinary performance… If they produce true BMWs, they can use the line forever.”
Fifty years later, BMW is still using it. Because, for all the marketing speak in the world, one truth remains: a great slogan only works if the product lives up to it. And BMW? Well, for decades, they built cars that weren’t just good—they were the ultimate.