Torsten Müller-Ötvös
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at BMW
Hamburg, Germany
TitleLamp Post
Agency
Campaign Is It Love ? - BMW Mini
Advertiser BMW
Brand MINI Cooper
PostedAugust 2003
Business Sector Compact & Small Cars
Story SUMMARY

The MINI mythos is alive. In the space of a few months the campaign for the MINI has created a wave of excitement. It has positioned the MINI internationally as the premium car in the compact segment. Its 2002 sales target was exceeded by more than 45%, making MINI a major contributor to the most successful year in the history of BMW.
Philosophy CREATIVE STRATEGY

The MINI represents pure emotion. Research demonstrated that this is reflected in the target group’s outlook on life: “I want my life to be full of excitement.”


Love is the highest and most beautiful form of excitement. The emotional relationship between car and driver is at the core of the advertising campaign - condensed in the tagline: “Is it love?”


This tagline provided an emotional umbrella that is equally accessible in all markets. In order to preserve this emotional approach, the campaign stresses the MINI experience rather than loosing itself in technical details.


This approach facilitated the creation of an internationally effective campaign whose impact wasn’t diminished by country-specific requirements.


OTHER COMMUNICATIONS PROGRAMMES

Under the “Is it love?” umbrella, an integrated campaign was launched utilizing all media (online, POS-promotions, direct marketing, events etc.)


TOTAL MARKETING EXPENDITURE

Over €20 million



MEDIA STRATEGY

Press ads and TV spots formed the classic backbone of the media strategy and were complemented by radio and cinema. The MINI is something very special, which is why every MINI advertising opportunity was turned into a media event in its own right.



Examples of this strategy include:

- the teaser campaign was intended to make people curious about the brand campaign. To achieve this, a loud thumping heartbeat in TV spots and press ads was visualised. The reason for this sign of excitement was, of course, the new MINI. But this wasn’t revealed until the start of the actual image campaign and sales commenced.

- a small piece of thermo-sensitive film was attached to a press ad as a way of determining the degree of excitement felt when looking at the MINI ad – of course, all readings were off the scale.
Problem CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES

Marketing objectives:

– To establish the MINI as the premium model in the compact car segment.

– To sell over 100,000 MINIs worldwide in 2002. (This objective was also publicly announced in the press)


In order to achieve these ambitious goals, the following communication objectives were agreed:

– Increase brand and product awareness

– Achieve above-average advertising awareness for each market segment


The campaign was used in all relevant European markets, with the exception of the UK.

For clarity’s sake and due to the unavailability of market research data for some markets, evidence of advertising effectiveness refers primarily to the German, Spanish and Italian markets.


TARGET AUDIENCE

The target groups were defined by taking into account not only psychographic clusters but also socio-demographic factors. The target groups are post-modern trendsetters, modern mainstream and modern upper class.
Media Type Television
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Market Germany, Italy, Spain
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Vice President Brand and Product Management MINI
General Manager MINI Marketing Communication

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