2024 marks a new era for MINI with the launch of the new MINI Cooper, MINI Countryman, and the first-ever MINI Aceman, introducing the new MINI family. Alongside this, a complete redesign of their corporate identity and visual language necessitates entirely new product content across the whole marketing funnel, a challenge hardly manageable with traditional methods in terms of time and budget.

Driven by the need for efficient, scalable, and versatile product content, MINIWOOD was created to meet increasing global demands for high-quality, diverse, and customizable content. It ensures compliance with local marketing laws through accurate car configurations and flexible environments.

Investing in MINIWOOD, though initially costly, proves cost-effective in the long run compared to traditional methods. It lays the foundation for future global product campaigns, providing an economically viable solution that enhances brand consistency and market responsiveness.

MINIWOOD is a first-of-its-kind virtual production design system. It fundamentally transforms MINI's approach to digital content creation through a modular and versatile virtual production method. This platform automates the generation of photo stills and moving images, showcasing every product configuration of the new MINI family. It efficiently handles vast quantities of media, adapting seamlessly to diverse campaign needs without the logistical burdens of traditional production methods.

This system's output enhances audience engagement by tailoring content to specific regional demands, thus maximizing marketing impact. Also perfectly aligned to MINI’s new and unique branding. MINIWOOD not only streamlines production processes but also significantly cuts costs and promotes environmental sustainability by reducing the need for physical resources. The primary goal is to redefine how MINI creates and thinks assets-at-scale, granting creative teams unprecedented freedom to explore and innovate. This ensures consistent quality and brand alignment across extensive global marketing campaigns.

MINIWOOD significantly enhances MINI's adaptability and cost-efficiency. By enabling rapid responses to market changes and consumer preferences, it keeps the brand competitive and relevant. Over time, reduced logistical, material, and crew costs will lower marketing expenses, reallocating funds towards more effective content creation.

The scalability of MINIWOOD is a key advantage. Its virtual production environment supports multiple and future campaigns without rebuilding from scratch, allows for quick updates to reflect product updates, and enables customization for global markets at reduced costs. Digital assets can be reused and reconfigured indefinitely, unlocking endless creative possibilities. Additional capabilities and features of MINIWOOD are further developed.

MINIWOOD sets a new industry standard for performance marketing with its high level of detail and brand recognition. It transforms MINI’s marketing into a scalable, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly model. For the introduction campaign of the three new models over 500 billion image permutation were possible.

MINIWOOD leverages a sophisticated virtual production set to digitally render the new MINI family, utilizing enhanced Unreal Engine capabilities through custom tools and plugins. These enhancements support automated scene composition, rule-based color pairing of car paint with background buildings, and precise trim and package selections tailored to specific configurations. This technology ensures each model is showcased with high fidelity, tailored to its unique attributes and style.

The system's background elements dynamically adjust materials and colors based on the car's configured color, adhering to MINI’s corporate design rules. This integration guarantees that each vehicle is presented in contexts that enhance its appeal.

A custom .USD data preparation workflow stages every buildable car configuration, accounting for local market variations. This meticulous attention to detail ensures the accurate representation of vehicles, even before production.

Additionally, MINIWOOD produces both still images and dynamic cinematic video sequences. A dedicated pick-and-click web interface streamlines the process for producers and marketers to select, customize, and initiate content production orders, facilitating the automated creation of marketing materials across all markets. This system not only simplifies content production but also maintains brand consistency and reduces resource use globally.