Imagine testing a self-parking car or experiencing a medieval jousting match from the hood of a MINI. Those were just two of the ideas that over 800 MINI owners submitted in a call to the brand’s 200,000 registered owners in its “Final Test Test Drives” competition as MINI sought contributions from its most passionate fans to launch its new MINI Cooper hardtop.
MINI and its marketing agency Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners (BSSP) culled through over 800 ideas and shot 10 original films with Tool of North America that bring to life the real–and sometimes fantastical attributes of the new MINI Cooper hardtop www.MINIFTTD.com. Taking the input from its owners one more step, MINI then turned some designs and ideas into actual features that it is making available as ‘New Originals” custom options packages on select cars.
“There’s nothing more powerful than a loyal and dedicated owner when it comes to MINI,” explained John Butler, BSSP executive creative director. “The MINI brand has ongoing engagement with its owners, and in turn we use that both as a strategic advantage and creative starting point in marketing MINI. Our challenge is to find new ways to get the MINI community excited. This new initiative has exceeded expectations.”
To extend the story behind the owner’s dream test drives, BSSP and MINI brought in Hearst Men’s Group and its popular publishing titles Road & Track, Car and Drive, Esquire and Popular Mechanics. The Hearst Men’s Group was onsite during the test-drives and filmed four videos starring Adrian Simpson, former host of the BBC’s “Top Gear” and “Fifth Gear” to complement the series, integrating the finalists into the content while highlighting the performance, technology, design and efficiency of the cars.
“We look for marketing solutions that can surround our loyal fans and reach new ones,” said Tom Salkowsky, Department Head, MINI Marketing. “We started this initiative last year and it will culminate on April 16th at the New York Auto Show when we unveil the new car and the “fan favorite” of our Final Test Test Drives.”
Supporting the films are advertising from BSSP across multiple channels including television, outdoor and events in addition to a digital experience created by BEAM Interactive designed to showcase the Final Test Test Drives, the owners who came up with the ideas and the New Originals custom MINI options packages they designed. Engaging in the experience drives users to learn more about the new Hardtop and to build their own. The experience is optimized to work across desktop, tablet and mobile devices.
During the past month music/sound house Yessian helped record and create the music and sound design for the campaign.
Being able to provide the soundtrack to each of the Mini driver’s unique stories gave Yessian a creative opportunity to explore each spot in its entirety; whether it needed orchestral, rock, ambient or just sound design giving each content piece its own personality as told through the storyline of the music.
“It’s not often that you get to write so much music for this type of project that really encourages you & inspires you to take it to a variety of places musically. It was a great opportunity for us to push boundaries and we definitely had a lot of fun doing it,” said Dave Curtin, Yessian’s West Coast executive music producer.
