MAXImizing the MINI with Social Gaming

MINI Countryman

How do you double your sales in a geographic  market?  Make consumers hunt for your product. That's how Mini did it in Stockholm, Sweden at least.


Literally.


RUN, OSCAR, RUN
In 2010 MINI looked to mobile apps - specifically a scavenger type "mobile hunt game" called Mini Getaway Stockholm - to engage potential buyers and turn them into brand evangelists.  


The bait?  A MINI Countryman - open for the winning, free and clear.


The task?  Download a mobile app that allows you to track (like a hunter to his prey) a virtual MINI and your competitors.  Capture the MINI and flee from your "enemies."  If you can hold onto the MINI for the duration of the game, it is yours to keep.

BIG GAME HUNTING
The game delivered strong results for MINI:

• 11, 413 physically participated in the game during its one-week duration
• The average participant spent just over 5 hours engaged with the game
• People from over 90 countries followed the game online, via the companion website, minigetawaystockholm.com
• Sales increased by 108% in the first quarter following the campaign

BIGGER GAME HUNTING

The campaign was so successful that MINI is translating its efforts into Japanese.  MINI Getaway Tokyo  is set to launch on December 3, 2011.  

The rules, and stakes, of the game are the same, but Tokyo allows MINI to MAXImize the potential impact in a few key ways:

• The Tokyo gaming area is almost 32 times larger - covering 240 square miles
• At 35.6 million, Tokyo's population is approximately 44 times larger than the population of Stockholm, which clocks in around 809,072

MINI also points to it's creation of an Android App for Tokyo, as a game changer - yet the Dr. debates that point - Japan seems to be an iPhone dominated market, with only about 15% of smartphone users doing so on the Android platform.  

Still, MINI is doing fun, engaging things to nurture MINI brand evangelists.  This is a campaign to watch out for.