Car entertainment
Hypnopolis – how a science fiction podcast changes driving
Not just listening, but helping to shape it. In the second season of “Hypnopolis” the listener can help shape the plot. BMW wants to set standards in in-car entertainment with its own podcast. By the way, cars with double kidneys do not appear in “Hypnopolis”.
The year is 2063. The journalist Hope Reiser awakens from an artificial deep sleep of 30 years, the punishment for the murder of her fiancé. The world in which she wakes up has become alien to her. And then she is followed by a group that hunts the journalist so that the truth behind the death of her boyfriend does not come to light. This is how the successful podcast “Hypnopolis” begins. That sounds like a mixture of the series “The Expanse” and the Hollywood blockbuster “Total Recall” and yet the podcast has a completely different goal: Somehow the dark adventure is supposed to advertise BMW.
Advertising without a car
“The idea: How can we reach new, younger target groups? The drivers of tomorrow who are not yet interested in cars but like to consume entertaining content,” says David Leinweber, Director at Jung von Matt, about the detour into the future. Indeed Mobility plays a big role in “Hypnopolis”, but there you fly in airships and BMW is practically non-existent. When a commercial is supposed to sell a car, on the other hand, everything revolves around the product. Everything should be shown in a short film Rims over the trunk to the cockpit. This is important for potential buyers, but also very boring for younger people who are less and less interested in cars. “Hypnopolis” now brings BMW content to those who would never read through car magazines. The brand is looking for new channels and new media in order to use interesting content to speak to people who may not have been interested in BMW yet Another philosophy. The automotive industry has traditionally been very product-driven. She would like to only talk about cars. To do a form of brand advertising in which no BMW vehicle appears is a break. This is common to the world of “Hypnopolis” and is very generally limited to the topics of technology, the future, and mobility.
A TV spot is booked and finds its audience through the broadcaster, a podcast has to stand up for itself. BMW is also present at festivals like Coachella, but people don’t come there for BMW. “Hypnopolis”, on the other hand, stands on its own. The podcast has to be good, received and recommended in order to be successful. As an entertainment medium, it competes with the major providers and in terms of the time budget of users with the top series on Netflix and Co.
Entertainment in the car
In fact, BMW has a long history of storytelling, starting with films like “The Hire” and continuing with “Small Escape”. In fact, the topic of “audio” is separate territory for a car brand, believes Stefan Ponikva, Head of BMW Brand Communication. Because the eyes are still busy while driving. You will only be able to watch films or read news in the car when the vehicles are driving autonomously. On-board entertainment is audio. Ponikva sees great potential in audio for BMW if in-car entertainment is produced in-house.
Robert Valentine was therefore hired as the author. He received the “BBC Audio Drama Award” for the podcast “Red Moon” and created the audio version of the classic Dr. Who. “Hypnopolis” is not an audio book in the form of nibbles. Hypnopolis defines new rules for a podcast. “Audio is an integral part of the marketing mix at BMW. We don’t just want to ride the podcast wave, we want to set trends ourselves. We are creating a completely new in-car entertainment with the interactivity of the podcast,” says Ponikva.
Interactivity instead of passivity
Christian Manke from EarReality turns the user from a passive listener into an active player. “In the second season this is no longer a linear podcast, but a hybrid of a gaming and an audio experience.” Every few minutes the user is asked how the story should continue, what his decision is now. Whether he wants to jump out of the window or whether he takes the stairs. This is made possible by an interactive storytelling tool called Twist. The user is asked how the story continues, what his decisions are, and that. You have to decide whether you want to solve a task quickly or whether you want to end the section as a good friend. The users are bound much more strongly through this initiative. The interaction also enables a group experience, for example when the whole family listens and determines the next step together.
A BMW vehicle appears only once in two seasons. A podcast lasts around 20 minutes per episode, a season lasts just under two hours. Nobody would listen to a BMW cheering program for that long. But the world of “Hypnopolis” is not fictitious. It includes projections from the future scenarios of the BMW Group. The people move in a world that is only recovering with difficulty from the ecological damage of our epoch.
You can find the podcast here.