It’s fair to say the Mini caused quite a stir when it was first launched in 1959, with a mix of surprise and mild bewilderment at the 10-foot-long car with sliding windows. In fact, it is said that motorists took time to warm up to the unrefined, utilitarian vehicle, meaning initial sales were slow before it gained huge popularity.
Forward wind to 1994 and the marque was snapped by BMW when it bought the Rover Group and took control of Mini, although it ended production of the classic design six years later.
In fact, this year BMW is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the redesign, which saw the Mini One, the Mini Cooper and Mini Cooper S unveiled to great acclaim.
And this week sees the launch of a new multi-channel campaign for Mini UK today, which, instead of going large on the brand’s heritage, opts to bring an extra-terrestrial twist to the marque’s latest retail offer.
The “Out of This World Offers” campaign has been developed by House of Communication UK and brings together Mini’s portfolio of agencies, including AI partner Silverside.
Continuing from the brand’s April space themed activity, this new ad apparently picks up on the story several months later, as UFOs descend on Earth and a new group of visitors discover Mini’s latest offers.
At the centre of the campaign is a 30-second film, supported by 15 and six second social films, digital out of home, display, HTML, radio and AdPause activity. Media planning is being handled by Dentsu’s iProspect.
According to the official blurb, “across the campaign, the creative keeps the offers firmly at its centre, using the alien storyline as a distinctive way into Mini’s sale events”.
House of Communication UK creative director Tom Genower said: “We’d already had fun taking Mini into space earlier in the year, and aliens were having a cultural moment. We wanted to build on that and create a story that could make Mini stand out in a universe of finance offers. Then it became about seeing how far we could push the idea, quickly and cost effectively, using AI to give existing assets a completely new life without losing any of the craft that made them great in the first place.”
So, what is the consensus around the Decision Marketing office?
Well, it is without doubt the Mini is a design and cultural classic, so quite why they have gone down this road is beyond us. After all, there must have been thousands of individual campaigns featuring extraterrestrials, from the Smash Martians to the Argos Aliens and Wrigley’s Airwaves to PepsiMax Alien Invasion, and some of them have been way better than this.
It’s just a shame they couldn’t have come up with an idea around the brand’s heritage, rather than relying on this rather hackneyed “out of this world” theme. Just our opinion. You might love it.
Decision Marketing Adometer: A ‘road to nowhere’ 6 out of 10
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