Legally Blind Driver Takes to the (Closed) Road in This Highly European BMW Spot

By Patrick Coffee 

After a crazy news day, here’s a nice calming European ad starring a legally blind man driving a sports car at top speeds.

Don’t worry, this isn’t the Autobahn; it all takes place at “a secure area at an airport in the Bernese Oberland.” That said, the concept is pretty interesting because the man in question, Swiss author Michael Fehr, had never sat behind the wheel of a car before making the ad.

The only word we can think of to describe this ad promoting the BMW 8 Series Coupé, which attempts to recreate Fehr’s experience attempting to navigate without the benefit of full sight, is “impressionistic.”

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For some reason this one really reminds us of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly in that it tells a story from the POV of a man who lacks full sensory perception.

Fehr has juvenile macular degeneration, which left him 95 percent blind since birth. He has to dictate his books (which is still not quite as bad as Jean-Dominique Bauby, who was completely paralyzed).

According to the press release, he had this to say about the whole experience: “Strangely enough, I felt no fear.”

Serviceplan Suisse made the ad in collaboration with BMW Group Switzerland. It debuted at the 14th Zurich Film Festival and it’s currently playing in Swiss theaters as well as on various social media channels.

CREDITS

Client: BMW
Agency: Serviceplan Suisse
Campaign: “BMW The 8 Experience”

Executive Creative Director: Raul Serrat
Creative Director: Florian Birkner
Copywriter: Dieter Boller, Günter Zumbach, Michael Fehr
Art Director: Daniel Hesse
Art Buyer: Nathalie Jakober

Production Company: Shining Pictures
Director: Marco Lutz
Director of Photography: Ralph Baetschmann

Sound: Jingle Jungle
Consultants: Edi Walker, Andrea Aegerter

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