Mini’s new campaign brings out the brand's cheeky and adventurous spirit

The Mini Coupe and Mini Roadster are new sports car models which were launched in the global market last Autumn, and landed in the China market on 23 February.

German creative agency Interone, Mini’s long-term agency in China for more than six years, rolls out a new marketing campaign for these two sports car models, riding on the theme of finding adventure in disasters.

The agency spokesperson said that 'adventure' is one of the most important traits for young men, and those young-at-heart, who are the target car buyers for the Mini Coupe and Mini Roadster.

Mini cars, which are small and cute, have been more appealing to women in China, Interone wanted to change the feminine perception of the Mini brand in China, while taking this opportunity to use this campaign sports car to bring out the dynamic driving car image of the Mini brand that would be more appealing to male drivers.

The new campaign tells an adventure story, according to the Mayan calendar, 21 December 2012 is the end of the world, when many natural catastrophes were taking place.

Based on this background, the agency created a new marketing campaign ‘A survival called Adventure’, an entertaining parody full of adventure tips including a dedicated website on Youku with a viral video, print and OOH highlighting the Mini brand’s spirit as being both bold and cheeky, and does not take catastrophes and disasters seriously.

The campaign site, with the two-minute viral video, shows how the Mini Coupe and Mini Roadster perform in nature and highlights the Mini brand's spirit in the face of disasters with the voiceover saying "we don’t give a damn about catastrophes – Mini says...screw it...let’s have some fun!”

For example, one story shows how Mini users enjoyed an adventure within a natural castrophe by use a Mini car as surfboard.

The agency also put 22 illustrated stories into a survival tip book as well as a PDF file, which will inserted into men fashion and lifestyle as well as car magazines in March and April.

Hylink is the digital media partner while Carat is the traditional media partner for the print and OOH campaigns.