MarketingProfs

Last week I shared with you the brilliant, out-of-the-box, advertising tactic by Amsterdam-based UbachsWisbrun/JWT agency. The work was to promote the Mini Cooper car for their client BMW/Mini Amsterdam. You and I had questions about the tactic. Thoughts such as…

• How did they come up with the idea?
• What did they think about Heineken’s “big box in the trash” similar tactic that executed only days before the Mini stunt?
• Wasn’t it a bit environmentally irresponsible to “make trash” in the city? / How did they dispose of the 12 cartons that were throughout the city?

Quick Recap:

For those of you just tuning in… this Christmas in Amsterdam – on the curb for trash pick-up, along with the rest of the Christmas rubbish – were empty boxes from those who received Cooper Mini cars from good ol’ Saint Nick. At 99-Euro per month – it isn’t surprising people got them for Christmas. But, they weren’t really from Santa Clause – it was an ad campaign!

Being local to the agency I decided to to see if I could get the inside scoop on this promotion from the team responsible for it.

To my delight, I was able to meet with…

[Lisa Merelle (account manager) | Thom van Rijckevorsel (art director) | Thomas Reinhold (copywriter)]

Behind The Scenes

How did they come up with the idea?

Mini has had a 99-Euro a month campaign happening for while in Amsterdam. The team approached Mini suggesting some tactic to end the promotion on a high note—something ‘out of the box.’ (Ended up literally being the case!)

The idea didn’t take weeks of brain grinding… It popped into the team’s head as Christmastime was approaching… What a clever way to promote how affordable owning a Mini could be. The affordable gift giving theme was a no brainer.

And it was the end of the year – so budget was slim. It cost under 5,000 Euro to have the boxes produced; not the hundreds of thousands of dollars for a traditional campaign.

What did they think about Heineken’s “big box in the trash” tactic that happened two weeks before the Mini project?

To the team’s surprise, while their boxes were being printed, Heineken—as part of their Walk-In Fridge campaign (Heineken Walk-In Fridge TV spot) – executed an uncomfortably similar “empty box in the trash” tactic. The Mini team nearly killed the program…The last thing an agency wants to do is release an idea that isn’t fresh. They decided the responsible use of the client’s fund was to go forward. And I’m glad they did. Yes, the Heineken approach is clever. Neat idea—the appearance that people are installing walk-in refrigerators in their homes. Just like we see in the commercial! However, the Mini box stacked with the rest of the Christmas toy packaging did a great job supporting the fun, affordability, and smallness of the product.

Wasn’t it a bit environmentally irresponsible to “make trash” in the city? / How did they dispose of the 12 cartons that were throughout the city?

Here’s the scoop. The team produced only four cartons. (You can see them in the below picture – one expanded, the other three folded). They put them in place long enough for people to clamor around them, take pictures, run to get friends… Then they moved them to a new location, totalling 12 locations.

People were upset when the boxes were being removed by the team to be put in a new location… Amsterdammers wanted to bring friends back and come back with their cameras.

The team has the boxes in the office garage. BMW/Mini wants one for a souvenir, the team is planning on keeping one, and the last two will be properly recycled.

So our fears of adding trash to the city, creating waste, and leaving behind a mess were unfounded. The team acted responsibly (part of what they promised the client).

Clever AND responsible.

Speaking of which, I asked for some more information about the agency, since the website is all in Dutch. I wanted to share the mission of UbachsWisbrun/JWT…

To “give brands long term success and growth by creating great advertising that is true to the real character and real drive of the brand, using all possibilities we have to connect to people.” I think they do a great job at this.

In closing, I hope you enjoyed the “behind the scenes” access the team has provided us. And, thank you for the comments and the flurry of “re-tweets” of the original article on Twitter.

Other Projects

Here are a few other projects the team shared. I thought you’d find them inspiring:

The Jesus Kit Kat:

Somehow the UbachsWisbrun/JWT team discovered something miraculous in a Kit Kat candy bar… and the news spread like wildfire. Check out The Jesus Kit Kat. The team garnered millions of hits, for the price of a candy bar. If you haven’t seen it, you have to watch this case study clip!

SpecSavers SpecSavers:

A store that sells eye wear in the Netherlands supports KGNF Guidedogs (a charity that trains guide dogs for the visually impaired). To build awareness of the charity (and the needs of the visually impaired), the team snuck black glasses into the display racks along with the normal sun glasses. Unsuspecting customers tried them on with a surprising experience… Reading the tag on the glasses revealed the partnership. Here’s a link to a video (the second one).

BMW Interactive Test Drives:

Potential customers could sign-up to be a special test driver of two types of BMW vehicles. However the test not only benefited the testers… Anyone else interested in the cars could get details via live video feed, SMS messaging, blogs, interactive maps, and other interactive tools. They could even contact the test driver and get real-time, honest, feedback about the cars. Pretty clever. Here’s the case study to learn more: BMW Interactive Test Drive.

As you can tell, I think highly of this team. They don’t cut corners in how they approach marketing. They’ve thought of their promotions from every angle. That makes their work successful, complete, and memorable.

What do you think? I’d love to get your reactions.

Tags: Advertising, Branding, Marketing, Mini Cooper