BMW Mini Launches Web-Based Movies

As was the case with the parent BMW, Mini-USA division is launching web-based movies. The movies can be found @ = http://www.hammerandcoop.com/#

This is part of an overall national campaign run by Mini-USA to increase brand awareness and buzz for a new Mini model, that is not a whole lot different from the existing or older models. Buzz strategy includes, billboard ads, online movies, cinema ads, MySpace/YouTube ads and the print media placements.

Trudy Hardy, Mini marketing manager, who has been at Mini since its inception, says the challenge was creating awareness and buzz for a new Mini that doesn't look strikingly different from the previous model. She says that because many of the new version's differences are under the hood and inside, a subdued pitch would likely get caught in the clutter.
"We are seeing more and more people doing inserts, and what was unique and breakthrough is becoming the norm," she says. "So we are looking at new ways to approach things." She said that teasers on YouTube have garnered 18,000 hits since they launched this month.

As far as the online movies go....
Unlike BMW's "The Hire" films--which were not at all about touting specific product attributes, but about putting a kind of aesthetic halo around the BMW brand--the Mini "Hammer & Coop" films boast product attributes by making Coop a talking car--albeit a British one--in the vein of Eighties TV show "Knight Rider." "We actually gave Coop a personality, a voice, so while there's really an interesting dynamic between Hammer and the '07 Mini through the films, they talk about all the new features of the car," says Hardy. "It is really much more about the product."
In one sequence, Hammer can't find the keys to Coop, so the car explains, "just push the button," demonstrating that new feature. "Coop," says Hammer, "you continue to amaze."

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