Home › Creative › Creative Showcase
CREATIVE SHOWCASE Subscribe
[ View Creative  » ]
Destruction on a MINI Scale
February 02, 2004
MINI tinkers with site demolition in the auto maker’s supremely interactive “Obliterate” campaign.
PRINT
Creative Notes
Firefox compatible.
Campaign Details

Creative Agency: WCRS UK
Media Agency: Zenith Optimedia UK
Technology Vendor: Eyeblaster
Campaign Insight

"We parody Web sites in this concept by our hero, MINI, driving onto the page and interacting with the elements such as text and images to create a humorous, interactive experience for the user, who controls the MINI using their arrow keys. Our aim is to provide an element of surprise and to entertain and engage the end user in order to create a positive experience and reinforce the brand values and personality of MINI."
--Matt Gee, Head of Interactive, WCRS

"WCRS UK has continuously taken creative advantage of the power of Eyeblaster’s Platform and multiple formats to create fun, engaging, interactive ads that truly reflect the MINI brand’s identity. They are quirky, attention grabbing, and most importantly, they’re effective."
--Maxine Altman, Business Development Manager, Eyeblaster

Editor's Note
Creative Showcase is meant to be a teaching tool and an inspiration for our readers. We comment only on creative that we really love. Our panelists discuss what makes it great, but if they feel there were missed opportunities that would have made it better, we invite them to mention those. And finally, we seek out a wide range of opinions that reflect the marketplace for the panel, in order to provide constructive, useable feedback for agencies, clients and others involved in these creative pieces.
The Panel
"Another execution in the ‘MINI adventure’ campaign, whereby the user controls the car in order to obliterate an obvious parody of the MSN Web site. The results of the car interacting with the various elements on the page—for example shattering the glass, ‘kicking’ the soccer ball or scaring two people away—are entertaining, albeit a little contrived. There’s an all too familiar feel that this has been done before. However, cut the car some slack, as its cheeky and light-hearted brand persona has enough equity in the bank to get away with this little spree."
--Joseph Jaffe, Editor-at-Large

"The MINI commercial execution was beautifully done, and offered a fun diversion to the viewer. Play action was quite good, and the instructions to follow were simple and clear. On the downside, branding for the product was inadequate and there was no consumer claim offered, unless the point they were trying to make was that the MINI was ‘cute’... and perhaps that is their underlying sales proposition. The game also loaded slowly, which would probably result in a higher click-out rate for the ad."
--Neil Perry, Marketing Consultant

"The unit is certainly in line with the overall image of the campaign for the MINI Cooper. It is fun, irreverent, and truly takes advantage of the interactive nature of the Internet. It provides a different experience with each use, further cementing the awareness and perception of the brand in the user's mind. Yet it would benefit from a viral component where the user could send the challenge to a friend and see who could ‘obliterate’ more of the page or even to offer sites the opportunity to place the unit on their site for fun."
--Cory Treffiletti, VP Media & Client Services, Carat Interactive

Footnote: Submissions are judged by a panel of industry experts from and based on the following criteria: how the creative captures the specific customer; how it meets the brand's business needs; impact of execution; and creativity. If you would like your creative considered for Creative Showcase, send an email to creative@imediaconnection.com.