inciteful

makes everything else seem too big

About the project

In the mid 2000s, America was addicted to big. Big SUVs. Big Trucks. Big America.

It was into this culture that BMW decided to bring over a quirky British car brand with a not big at all name MINI Cooper. Outspent and out-muscled, to breakthrough the we had to outmaneuver the category and the big bias of North America.

turning a weakness into a strength

Very quickly we realized, small was our strength. As a product attribute, small can take corners big can’t. Small can fit where big won’t. Small goes farther and faster, because life isn’t always in straight lines.

As a creative and media strategy, small became our defining feature. Every impression had the challenge of becoming 3+ as we focused on executions that people wanted to share, wanted to tear out of the magazine or snap a photo of on the street. When we did finally make a national TV buy, we made that go further too by going direct response and giving people something to buy… like a DVD to know when they might be inadvertently buying a fake MINI.