Mini

Launching the New MINI (2004) - Introduction

Alex Bogusky and Jeff Hicks were thrilled. Bogusky was the lead creative at the Miami ad agency, Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, and Hicks was its president. A small shop in Miami, CP+B had just won the account review to launch the new MINI in the United States. Ad agencies place tremendous value on auto accounts because they are a great platform for building the agency's reputation, attracting industry and public attention. And MINI was a particularly desirable account, re-launching one of the classic autos of all time for its new owner, the BMW Group. Bogusky's pitch had won the agency a chance to catapult into the big leagues of the ad agency world. The MINI USA brand team—headed up by Jack Pitney, Rich Steinberg and Kerri Martin—had selected CP+B over several formidable competitors in a creative shootout. Pitney was the MINI USA General Manager, Steinberg was the project director, and Martin was the marketing communications manager. The brand team was impressed by CP+B's creative branding solution for MINI, a proposal built around the tag line "LET'S MOTOR." The proposal went well beyond the usual ad storyboards that agencies often unveil in new account pitches to offer a "360-degree" branding solution that MINI could use across the marketing mix. Along the way, CP+B had even promised to make the MINI into an icon, avoiding the up-and-down cycle of fads and fashions. But CP+B had its work cut out. Yes they had won the pitch. Now Bogusky's team had to develop their initial ideas into creative to support a full-blown brand launch. They knew that, with the combination of the appealing new MINI design and the low ceiling that BMW had imposed on sales, MINI would sell well initially. But the challenge wasn't to sell autos; it was to build an enduring brand. The measure of CP+B's work would come 10 years down the road.

- BMW Group Buys Mini

The BMW Group purchased the struggling British automobile company Rover in 1994....