February 10th, 2010

One of the Malandrino print ads

Fashion designer Catherine Malandrino is the newest spokesperson for BMW, specifically she is promoting the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo. The ad campaign was shot by Norman Jean Roy, a fashion and celeb photographer who is a staple at Vanity Fair. The ads appeared in various Conde Nast publications including Vanity Fair, W and The New Yorker.

For once a car company has gotten it right, kudos BMW! We would like to award you our Drive Like A Woman seal of approval! Here you have a successful woman, who travels the world, who has built her own company, who is a mother, who is fashionable, smart, savvy, and…loves driving her car! Is this really so hard for you car execs to figure out?

Granted the car Malandrino is endorsing is not exactly a high performance sports car but at least it’s not a mini van. We still have some ground to cover but this is a start. Clearly BMW is trying to capitalize on all those women out there who have never been marketed to and we support this effort.  Although it is equally as clear that there is a long way to go in the industry, as evidenced by The Auto Marketing Blog which referred to this demographic as “the Neiman Markus MILF.” Shame on you! You should feel free to change your name to the Auto Marketing To Men Blog.