If you delve into BMW’s history, you will notice that the BMW logo (➜ Read more: The BMW logo – meaning and history) has been an essential element in all of its advertising campaigns. The logomark was first used as a symbol of recognition and differentiation in 1917 – years before the BMW aircraft engine manufacturer (➜ Read more: Technical marvels: 12 standout examples of a BMW engine) would bring its first vehicles to market. But at that point, the company was still a long way away from a brand claim and wordmark. The word “Freude”, meaning “joy”, “fun” or “pleasure”, first appeared in BMW advertisements in the mid-1930s. In 1936, a billboard for BMW cars and motorcycles informed drivers that “Kraftfahren muss Freude bereiten!” (driving should be a pleasure!). Ad templates destined for dealerships emphasized the “Freude und Nutzen” (pleasure and convenience) of BMW vehicles, and touted the joy of a no-obligation test drive („Freude einer unverbindlichen Probefahrt”). In addition, an ad for the six-cylinder BMW 326 touring model promised potential buyers “doppelte Freude am Fahren” (double the driving pleasure).

That changed at the beginning of the 1960s, when BMW accompanied the launch of its “Neue Klasse” (new class) with a marketing strategy that took a different tack. Sporty, reliable, emotive – these were qualities that had stood for BMW products from the very beginning, and which were now to be the focus of product communication for the new mid-size models. In 1964, an ad for the BMW 1800 ended with the phrase: “... aus Freude am Fahren.” (... for sheer driving pleasure). This tagline subsequently started appearing in other ads as well – sometimes in the header, sometimes in the text, and finally next to the logo. In 1965, BMW adopted “Aus Freude am Fahren” (for sheer driving pleasure) as its official slogan, which thus came to be an integral part of the brand image.

At the same time that “Freude am Fahren” became the company slogan in 1972, its translation for export markets was also standardized. Before this, many freely translated variations of the car slogan had been used. In English-speaking countries, for example, it had been translated as “BMW puts pleasure back into motoring,” and “For the joy of motoring” or sometimes “For sheer driving pleasure.” “La joie de conduire” was used in French, and in Spanish it was “Para el puro placer de manejar.” Afterwards, a more literal translation was adopted in both French (“Le plaisir de conduire”) and Spanish (“El placer de conducir”), while in English the slogan was a little more loosely translated as “Sheer Driving Pleasure.” The one exception was the U.S., and now most recently the U.K., where BMW advertises its cars as “The Ultimate Driving Machine.”

So is this the end to the story of BMW’s slogan? The use of marketing slogans is certainly changing – not least as consumers’ perceptions and sensibilities evolve. “Given all the digital formats we have today, consumers must be able to quickly understand what we want to communicate to them,” says Blickhäuser. “We have a more flexible policy on communication now. Content, imagery and the modified BMW logo remain essential elements of the brand image. But today, the use of the slogan is optional.”

Does this mean the famous tagline is to be discontinued, especially in view of trends such as electromobility (➜ Read more: Electric cars and plug-in hybrids explained) and self-driving cars (➜ Read more: The road to autonomous driving)? “Not at all,” says Blickhäuser. “‘Sheer Driving Pleasure’ describes the essence of the brand, which is very robust, resilient and future-oriented. The pleasure a person derives from their car has nothing to do with its drive technology – or whether it’s driven autonomously or not. Joy is universal. It is a human emotion that binds us all together. So I think it will remain just as relevant in the future as it is now.”