Calling For A Car

By Dody Tsiantar

What's a marketer to do if a much awaited product isn't quite ready to be shown off? Send customers to a "virtual showroom" instead, via their cell phones. That's what BMW did last month at the auto shows in Los Angeles and Detroit. With its redesigned 3-series sedan not yet ready for prime time (the vehicle is scheduled to hit U.S. showrooms in early summer), the German automaker handed out cards imprinted with a phone number. Prospective customers could then get a sneak peek at the new vehicle on their Web-enabled cell phones, complete with video clips. Says Glenn Field, ceo of Boomerang Media, which dreamed up the high-tech solution used by BMW: "It's like driving in right through the phone." --D.T.