Knowing that mall parking lots are always overcrowded during the holiday season, we wanted to make things easier for MINI drivers by creating the exclusive “MINI Parked Car Locator.” Three-foot round helium balloons with the message “YOUR MINI IS PARKED HERE” were attached to every MINI found in each of the chosen parking lots. When MINI drivers were done their shopping, they could simply scan the lot and easily pick out their MINI, allowing them to “unpark” faster and get back on the road where their MINI belongs.

With earned media as the top objective, this event was a huge success by all accounts. Within days it was picked up by the global press, appearing on blogs, Twitter feeds, and popular automotive and creative sites all over the world. It was also featured as Pick of the Day at both Advertising Age and Creativity Online. Everyone was once again talking about MINI, and it just so happens that we had our best-ever MINI sales for December (+31% over 2010 December sales).