现在起到八月这段时间去美国各地的宝马经销店就能试驾一款宝马。如果是在“为美国队而驾”（Drive for Team USA）这一天去试驾，宝马公司还会向美国奥委会（the U.S. Olympic Committee）捐10美元。不过，你也许想不到，你会有25%的几率被这辆车打动，进而掏钱买下它。

    实际上，在去年的奥运会推广季中，每四个人中就有一个在参加试驾后购买了一辆宝马，使得“为美国队而驾”成为这家德国公司迄今为止最成功的事件营销活动。宝马北美区总裁兼首席执行官路德维格•威利士说：“这是我们开展过的最好的试驾活动。如果每年都开一次奥运会就好了。”

    除了为奥运会提供交通工具——4,000辆宝马汽车，以及为150名奥运选手和残奥会选手（其中11位来自美国；而宝马赞助最多的国家是英国）提供赞助外，宝马公司还为美国游泳队开发了全新的动作追踪相机软件，为美国田径队开发了测速工具。

    珍妮特•埃文斯是美国游泳运动员，也是宝马资助的对象之一。她说：“它是我见过的第一家真正关心运动员需求的赞助公司。”宝马在硅谷设有研发实验室。一年前，它开始接触运动员，询问他们，如何才能帮助他们提高成绩。美国十项全能运动员、卫冕冠军布莱恩•克莱称：“他们的态度是，‘我们擅长做这些，请告诉我们你们需要什么，我们要怎么做才能帮到你。’”

    宝马开发的技术让像克莱和埃文斯这样的运动员能更全面准确地了解，如果要全力以赴地游泳、奔跑、跳跃，他们需要怎么做。埃文斯调侃道，这种合作之所以奏效，是因为“我们就像精准调校的机器；宝马想的是如何在路上飞驰，而我想的是如何在泳池里游得更快”。

    U.S. decathlete Bryan Clay in a technology testing session with BMW engineers and sports scientists of the USOC and USA Track & Field

    If you were to head down to your local BMW dealership between now and August, you'd be able to test-drive a vehicle, and if you do it on a "Drive for Team USA" day, BMW will give $10 to the U.S. Olympic Committee just for your trouble. But what you wouldn't guess is that there's a 25% chance you'll give in and buy one.

    Indeed, during last year's Olympic promotion one out of every four people bought a BMW after taking it for a spin, making "Drive for Team USA" the German automaker's most successful event of this kind to date. Ludwig Willisch, President and CEO for BMW North America, says, "This has been the best test-drive we've ever done. There should be an Olympics every year."

    In addition to providing transportation vehicles during the Games -- 4,000 of them -- as well as financial backing to 150 Olympians and Paralympians (11 from the U.S.; the nation most represented by BMW sponsorship is the U.K.), the company has developed new motion-tracking camera software for USA Swimming and velocity-measuring tools for USA Track & Field.

    Janet Evans, an American swimmer and one of BMW's athletes, says, "This is the first corporate sponsor I've seen that really cares about what the athletes need." The German automaker, which has an R&D lab in Silicon Valley, approached athletes nearly a year ago and asked them what could make them better. "Their attitude was, 'Here's what we're good at, so tell us what you need and how we can help you,'" says Bryan Clay, American decathlete and defending Gold champion.

    The technology BMW came up with allows athletes like Clay and Evans - the latter jokes that the partnership works because, "We are like fine-tuned machines; they want to go fast down the road, I want to go fast in the pool" -- get a more comprehensive look at exactly what they need to tweak for their next lap, run, or jump.

    埃文斯还记得，以前要看自己游泳的回放录像，就必须坐在池边，拿着便携摄像机在恰当的时刻按暂停键，再不停地按倒带和快进键，这个过程往往弄得人精疲力竭。克莱则说，他以前每次练习跑步之后额处境也差不多，上届北京奥运会时也还得这样。而现在，克莱表示：“有了这项技术，我们的成绩提高就毫无限制了。它会改变整个运动界。”

    一家德国豪华车厂商却为自己赞助的运动员提供新型摄像技术，这听起来有点让人诧异，但威利士认为其实不必对此感到奇怪。他说：“我们是一家工程技术类公司。我们将长期支持运动员提高成绩，至少到2016年前我们都会坚持这么做。”实际上，在伦敦奥运会期间，宝马将在北美进行有史以来最大规模的媒体投放。

    威利士称，宝马还在为其汽车开发更复杂的行人侦测技术。目前各大汽车品牌的新车品质都在大幅提高，问及在这样的背景下，宝马如何持续保持竞争力时，他说：“我们只需要保持原创，并始终确保我们的车是终极座驾就行。”不过，从长期来看，全力以赴开展一场让人印象深刻的奥运会赞助活动是否能让用户对“终极座驾”增加额外的好感，还有待观察。

    译者：清远

    Evans recalls that in the past, to watch the replay of a lap, she'd have to sit on the side with a handheld camera and push pause at just the right moment, constantly hitting rewind and fast-forward in frustration. Clay says he would end up in a similar position after his practice runs, even as recently as the last Summer Games in Beijing. Now, Clay says, "The sky's the limit with this technology. It could change the world of sports."

    If it sounds surprising that a German luxury carmaker is offering its sponsored athletes new camera technology, Willisch insists that it shouldn't be. "We're an engineering company," he says. "We're in this for the long-term; we'll be doing this until at least 2016." Indeed, BMW's biggest media buy ever in North America will air during the London Games.

    Willisch says BMW is also working on more sophisticated pedestrian detection for its vehicles. And when asked about how BMW can continue to compete when there has been an increase in quality of new cars across the board, he responds, "We just have to stay authentic and always ensure that it's the ultimate driving machine." Whether pulling out all the stops for an impressive Olympic sponsorship indeed curries extra favor for the "ultimate driving machine," in the long run, remains to be seen.