In light of this year’s summer Olympics in Paris, Kith and Ronnie Fieg celebrated by launching an...
Kith, a luxury lifestyle brand in Brooklyn, teamed up with BMW for their latest collaboration on BMW’s 2025 XM. This partnership, making their third together, celebrates BMW’s legacy while showcasing Kith’s innovative design and storytelling. From the exclusive production of just 47 BMW 2025 XMs to a product collection infused with coveted colors like techno violet, this marketing campaign bridges the gap between automotive heritage and modern luxury. This marketing case study explores Kith’s latest project with BMW, their masterful marketing strategies, and how Kith’s storytelling elevated this campaign to their best yet in 2024.
Kith and BMW's Short, Yet Exciting History
Despite tracing back four, short years, Kith’s Founder and CEO, Ronnie Fieg, has undeniably made his partnership with BMW one of his most anticipated and celebrated. The two brands sparked their relationship during the height of Covid, and have never looked back, creating three, show-stopping campaigns and product collections for millions to see.
In 2020, Kith’s project with BMW featured a polarizing color palate of reds and blue, reflecting the same palate found on BMW’s alternate logo (shown below). Two years later, in 2022, Kith and BMW pivoted color palates, opting for a darker, evergreen tone throughout the collection and their shared vehicle, the i4 M50.
“Blue stands for the BMW brand, red for motorsport and purple for this unique connection.” - Manfred Rennen, BMW Designer
As one would expect, each collaboration between Kith and BMW has been an instant success, with most of the pieces selling for higher margins on aftermarkets. Notably, Kith’s 2022 collaboration on the BMW i4 M50 sold at an auction for an eye-watering $327,600, proving the testament to the project’s significance, demand, and resonance with their audience.
Project Spotlight: Kith for BMW - Chapter III
Kith and BMW blew past all expectations for their latest collaboration, perfectly fusing BMW’s past and present with Kith’s aesthetic and design. The project’s centerpieces were none other than two BMWs that were designed through a Kith-themed lens, featuring a 1981 BMW M1 and a 2025 BMW XM - the only standalone BMW M models ever created. While the 1981 M1 is a one-of-one piece in Ronnie Fieg’s collection, the 2025 XM was available via pre-order on Kith’s website for a whopping $199,000. With production limited to 47 2025 XMs, paying homage to the 47-year anniversary of the M1, it goes without saying that Kith’s BMW, despite the high sticker price, will sell without fail.
Alongside the vehicles, Kith and Ronnie Fieg released their own product collection, ranging from BMW-themed jackets, sweaters, coffee mugs, model replicas, and everything for their customers to stay covered in Kith year-round - whether they’re a proud BMW owner or not. Like most shared collections, the Kith and BMW release sold out within minutes of its release, leaving many to add their missed-out items on their Christmas list.
Target Audience Breakdown: Kith and BMW
With polarizing differences in industries, Kith and BMW leveraged their shared metrics to not only create a stunning product collection, but to set the scene for a masterful marketing campaign.
Kith: By the Numbers
Kith has found tremendous success within the luxury lifestyle and apparel business, generating more than 2.71 million website visits in November 2024. With the average duration time of 2:26 and more than four pages a visit, Kith not only attracts new customers, but more importantly, retains their existing customer base with exciting collaborations, product collections, and their loyalty program. In addition to a strong website presence, Kith has crafted an ideal customer avatar, previewed with these key metrics:
- 25-34 years old
- 64% mobile, 36% desktop
- 72.92% US, 3.6% UK, 2.99% FRA
- 57% direct, 29.43% organic search, 10.17% social media
Like most retailers, consumerism is what drives revenue, brand awareness, and ethos for Kith. A target audience that grows up with the brand is far more likely to remain loyal as opposed to audiences that follow the brand as they hear about it, and no one is better at that in this space than Kith.
BMW: By the Numbers
BMW’s premium quality, elevated brand image, and high-ticket pricing appeal an older audience than Kith. Nonetheless, BMW has continually found success with their online presence, totaling over 5.67 million website visitors in November 2024. Coupled with an average duration of 2:55 and 5.55 viewed pages a visit, and BMW has now found themselves scratching at the top 10 for websites within the automotive industry (#12). BMW’s ideal customer is represented within these metrics found by SimilarWeb:
- 60.25% mobile, 39.75% desktop
- 87.84% US (for BMW USA)
- 42% direct, 36.07% organic search, 13.31% paid search, 4.23% social media
Despite having an older audience, BMW shares many qualities with Kith, from accessibility, to traffic medium, and having a strong US audience base. Of course, BMW’s social media reflects their older audience, straying away from Instagram and X; but nonetheless, these metrics set the scene perfectly for Kith and BMW’s shared marketing campaign. Perfect timing.
Kith's One-of-a-Kind Storytelling: How Techno Violet Painted This Marketing Masterpiece
Kith is known for their unique, expansive color palates ranging from light pastels to bold, vibrant reds and blues. For its latest project with BMW, Kith built off their previous theme by showcasing their newest fascination, techno violet, one of BMW’s most coveted colors in their company palate. Kith CEO, Ronnie Fieg, shared the significance of techno violet by saying,
“Color Code 299, aka “Techno Violet,” was only offered as a stock color from 1994 to 2000, exclusively on the M3 E36. After that, it was phased out and disappeared from the market. There were sporadic instances where owners could customize a new vehicle from BMW in the color, but it wasn’t until 2021 that it became available again, solely through the brand’s elevated customizable “BMW Individual” program. For Chapter III, we’re highlighting this rare and premium color by introducing a new version of it, Frozen Techno Violet.” - Ronnie Fieg
Along with the techno violet pictures displayed on Ronnie Fieg’s social media, Kith covered its latest product collection in this color, making every piece a statement piece without fail.
Kith’s storytelling of techno violet and its significance with BMW is undoubtedly one the brand’s greatest strengths - and it goes beyond this marketing campaign. Competitors in their space like Aimé Leon Dore, JJJJound, and others offer unique color palates, sometimes similar to Kith’s, but lack the ability to create a meaningful, awe-inspiring story. As shown in the previous case study with ALD and Porsche, both collaborations featured a luxury lifestyle company and a high-end automotive company. Both shared similar products, product photos, and marketing campaigns - almost too similar. However, Kith’s one-of-a-kind storytelling behind techno violet helped paint a marketing masterpiece for this campaign, and gave the brand an upper hand over their competitor’s identical project.
Kith and BMW's Successful Marketing Strategies
Kith and BMW’s successful campaign wasn’t limited to their storytelling. In fact, the brands leveraged their differences to strengthen their reach, engagement, and click-through rate, creating a high-converting campaign that demanded the attention of millions.
Stressed Target Audience's Key Emotions
The normal consumer isn’t going to spend $1,000 on a leather jacket or nearly $200,000 on a new BMW, for multiple reasons. Whether it’s price related or simply because the consumer isn’t aware of the brand, both Kith and BMW are targeting audiences that aren’t the average joe. Instead, Kith and BMW aim for consumers that are obsessed. Obsessed with the brand (Kith and/or BMW), obsessed with status, obsessed with looking successful, obsessed with collecting, materialist brands have needle-like precision when assessing their customers’ psychographics, but a broader brush for their demographics.
Associated Product With History
Kith could have released the same products, with the same branding, with the same cosign from BMW, and not have it sell out within minutes. The difference? Kith associated their product line, sometimes down to the specific piece, to BMW’s extensive, successful history. Purchasing an item from Kith’s storefront was more than a mere transaction, it was purchasing a piece of history and celebrating this milestone with Kith and BMW.
Diversified Product Collection
With a collection like this, Kith has the rare option to go all-in on a specific product, i.e. jackets etc, instead of opting for a widespread of options across multiple fields. However, Kith invests in the extra time and money for the wide variety to not only offer a vast product assortment, but more importantly, to target specific demographics within the same psychographic.
The 25-year old finance bro living out in Miami is not likely to spend the $1,000 dollars on a jacket, but he might spend that money on a few sweaters, t-shirts, a mug, and, of course, those brand new floor mats for his car. The same could be said about the 55 year-old living in Park City, Utah. They don’t have a need to spend $695 on a new duffle bag, but instead use that money for the Kith snowboard for their next trip to the mountains this winter.
Everything is about perspective, and this wide variety that Kith considers every perspective from both its national and international audiences.
Perfected the 'Simon Sinek' Marketing Approach
Simon Sinek is one of greatest thought leaders in business that became known for his ‘Start With Why’ Ted Talk. In his lesson, Sinek decrypts where most businesses fail when it comes to their messaging, and in turn, shares how the flipped model can lead businesses towards unwavering success, brand recognition, and higher profits.
This exact approach is what Kith has done here with their marketing strategy. Instead of starting with their ‘what,’ their product collection. The campaign begins with telling a story, the brand’s why. Kith and BMW are celebrating their third chapter together, and in doing so, are also celebrating 47 years of BMW’s M1. Their ‘how’ is through their latest marketing campaign - showcasing Ronnie Fieg’s BMW collection through the years of collaboration and their recent event held in Miami. Finally, Kith’s ‘what’ is the combination of their latest product collection, and their limited release of the BMW 2025 XM - now that is one heck of a campaign.
Kith and BMW in Miami for Art Basel
Kith debuted its collaboration with BMW on their M1 and XM 2025, as well as Ronnie Fieg’s personal BMW collection in Miami on December 5-6 for Art Basel. The event was exclusive to friends and family, with everyone dressed in Kith’s latest collection from head to toe. The event included a panel presentation where Fieg dove deep on his latest chapter with BMW, what the brand means to him, and how he was inspired by their color palates when curating their latest project.
The One That Drove Away
The one aspect that customers appreciate more than anything else is getting looks at the behind-the-scenes to major, full-blown productions. Ronnie Fieg shared glimpses of this in his project portfolio on X, but none of the photos were promoted to Kith and BMW’s combined 45 million follower empire. Even if it was shown in an Instagram post, this type of content is arguably more entertaining than the finished product. These photos tell a story. They show the hundreds of hours put into this project. They show the sleepless nights, the dreary days, and all the months planning and planning until it was go time. This shares the ‘how’ like nothing else, and would have added a tremendous jewel to Kith’s crowned campaign.
Conclusion
Kith’s third chapter with BMW was nothing short of special, and their shared storytelling, successful target reach, and strong social media presence were the defining pieces to this one-of-a-kind marketing campaign. On the surface, this campaign looks identical to that of Aimé Leon Dore’s: two luxury lifestyle brands from New York teaming up with luxury automotive groups. But don’t be fooled. Kith’s documentary-like campaign and partnership with BMW will, unequivocally, be one to remember. As they round 2024 and look ahead to 2025, Kith will continue to dominate the fashion and lifestyle arenas, but no telling what’s up their sleeve. Stay tuned.
