THE MINI
GETAWAY
GAME.
Client: MINI | Category: Digital innovation
When iconic car brand MINI launched their new model Countryman, Swedish market share and brand awareness had been low for several years. Our task was to turn existing fans into eager evangelists – and of course buyers. Taking the global umbrella concept ‘Getaway’ forward, we started the biggest virtual car-chase ever seen.
KEY EMOTIONAL DRIVER
The target audience consists of people young at heart with a desire for a playful vehicle – a vehicle which demonstrates that they’re ready for an adventure at any time. We activated their sense for competition which rhymed well with the fast-paced energy of the brand.
Through the world’s biggest mobile reality game, we transformed Stockholm into a living game board. For seven days Stockholmers went MINI mad, hunting out a virtual car in the hope of winning a real MINI Countryman.
We created an iPhone app showing the location of the virtual MINI, your position and that of your opponents. If you got within 50m of the virtual MINI, you could ‘take’ it with your phone. Then you had to getaway. Fast – because anyone within 50m could steal the car off you.
IMPACT
11,413 Stockholmers got hooked and played our getaway challenge during the week, transporting the virtual car nearly 1,500 km around the city. The average playing time per person was five hours and six minutes.
MINI sales in Sweden rocketed by 92% in the first six months post campaign, compared to the same period the previous year (double the Swedish car industry average). Brand awareness increased by 131% and MINI purchase consideration increased by 350% during the first year following the campaign. Additionally, MINI Getaway was the world’s third most-awarded campaign that year.
Tokyo:
The next destination
for MINI Getaway
Following the extraordinary success in Stockholm, the campaign was exported to several other cities – the largest one being Tokyo. This time the game was played on a gigantic area of 621 square kilometers, 32 times larger than the Stockholm ‘board’.