The Ad That Floated a Feather—and Launched a Legacy

The author shared a 1990s-era glossy magazine ad for BMW featuring a 3-series sedan balancing perfectly, mid-air, on a triangular fulcrum. Just above the hood of the vehicle was a bird’s feather, floating downward toward what one might think is a soft landing.
But in truth the feather threatened utter disaster. “Oh, no!” was the headline. The ad called out the relentless precision of BMW’s engineering that produced a sports sedan so in balance that it could be thrown off by the weight of a mere feather. It was perfection.
The ad was produced by Wenham-based Mullen Advertising, founded and led by former Manchester resident Jim Mullen. It was just over 30 years ago that Mullen stunned the business world by winning the coveted BMW North America (BMW NA) account, and then creating many award-winning ads, some of which are being rediscovered today, and not just on Instagram.

Mullen Advertising’s rise from a regional agency founded in the 1970s on a kitchen table to a national powerhouse is a testament to the vision and passion of Jim Mullen. The agency—fueled by its amazingly talented people that went far beyond Jim Mullen—quickly gained a reputation for innovative and successful campaigns for organizations like Timberland, Veryfine Juice, and Smartfood Popcorn.

 

By 1993, Jim, a lifelong car enthusiast and successful racer, had nibbled at the giant global automotive industry with work for Bentley and Rolls Royce, and was ready to represent a major car brand when the BMW NA account came up for review. Mullen wanted a brand that resonated with enthusiasts but was ready to grow beyond that niche. BMW was perfect, and the agency put together a pitch that has since become legendary in advertising circles: the Mullen team assembled eight historically significant BMW cars and displayed them where the BMW decision team, who’d flown in from Germany, would walk as they entered the agency. Then they took the extra step of painting a large BMW logo on the courtyard gravel through which the BMW execs would pass on their way inside.
The humble publisher of your Manchester Cricket, Erika Brown, who happens to be my sister, worked at the agency at that time and witnessed this astounding event.
As she described it, Jim and the team’s pitch, which focused on elevating BMW’s identity from being a car company for enthusiasts to becoming an enthusiasts’ brand for everyone, was “magical,” and it was certainly enough to win Mullen the account.
Shortly after the win, I came by the agency for a visit. As I meandered up the same walkway the BMW team had negotiated six months earlier, Jim Mullen walked out to greet me, dressed in a tweed jacket and a button-down shirt. He shook my hand warmly and said, “Steve, Erika tells me you’re a car guy. I just got a new car, and I want you to drive it when you take her out for lunch.” Handing me the keys to a
brand-new, 1994 BMW M5, Jim was trusting me with one of the finest driving machines of the era. After I nervously asked when he needed it back, Jim replied, with a furrowed brow, “I have to get to a 5:30 meeting. Is 5 p.m. okay?”
Umm, yes Jim, that’s fine.
I drove it responsibly with occasional bursts of brio and was exhilarated by the experience, returning it well before the generous deadline. It was my first time driving an M car, and it remains one of the best cars I’ve ever driven.
The advertising campaigns produced during this partnership by Mullen’s BMW creative team of Jack Fund and Keith Weinman were memorable and earned numerous awards, reinforcing Mullen’s rising global reputation as a creative leader. Unfortunately, the partnership ended a few years later due to political changes at BMW NA, not uncommon in the advertising world, but the work Mullen produced during that time left an indelible mark on BMW’s branding and on the advertising world.

 

In 1999, Mullen Advertising began a new chapter when it was acquired by the Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG). Jim Mullen retired shortly after the sale of his company, but the agency continued to grow and thrive, merging with Long Haymes Carr in 2001 to form Mullen/LHC. Advertising Age named the firm the third-best agency in the U.S. in 2011, and Fast Company listed it
among the top 10 innovative marketing companies that same year. 
Its success was driven by many important people, breaking barriers in markets far beyond the automotive industry. Today, Mullen Advertising is MullenLowe, no longer a small, local company going for its big shot.
Thirty-plus years on, it’s worth taking a moment to remember when a small advertising agency from right here won the remarkable privilege of representing
one of the world’s best automotive companies, and did so by producing some of the best advertising BMW has ever produced.
And thanks to Instagram, those ads live on.