As a brand that dares to be different, MINI, the quirky car manufacturer under BMW, doesn't just cater to modern mobility needs. Renowned for its timeless, go-kart feel, MINI cars offer a unique, customizable, and exciting driving experience that makes them stand out on the open road.
The challenge
For MINI, advertising is about more than selling cars. It's about storytelling that inspires audiences and compels them to learn more about the brand.
MINI was intent on bringing their narrative to the largest screen in the home — the television — with a focus on audiences who exclusively stream TV and were unreachable through traditional TV campaigns. To amplify their message, MINI’s marketing team chose to focus on a major event that excites widespread consumer interest — the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Beyond just achieving branding goals, MINI also wanted to measure the impact of Roku streaming ad exposure on web browsing, dealership visits, and vehicle sales, all nearly impossible to measure with traditional TV ads.
The approach
The NCAA’s March Madness Tournament is broadcast across various channels, often leaving sports fans searching to find their desired games. MINI and Roku came to their aid with a branded Game Day Guide accessible directly from the Roku home screen with easy options to view games on channels like CBS Sports, Paramount+, TNT, and TBS. The innovative guide not only eased game accessibility but also offered a platform to showcase MINI's vibrant line-up of cars, highlighting a wide array of sizes, colors, and features through an eye-catching advertisement.
Using Roku’s ad platform, OneView, MINI then retargeted viewers exposed to the Game Day Guide with another video ad. To effectively measure this strategy, MINI took advantage of a Roku’s partnership with Cox Automotive.
Roku and Cox Automotive partnered earlier this year to raise the bar on insights and attribution. For the first time, Roku's automotive advertisers can understand how TV streaming ads influence potential buyers from discovery to intent to action. As the leader in the industry, over 70% of automotive shoppers come to Cox Automotive websites to research, discover, price, and start the car buying process.
Roku passed the de-identified and encrypted ad exposure data from MINI’s campaign to Cox Automotive, which matched that data with their own first-party data set. MINI then received detailed reports linking ad exposure to consumer behaviors on popular Cox Automotive properties like Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book (KBB), which reach two out of three online car shoppers during their research and shopping journeys.¹
“With this campaign, MINI not only successfully engaged car buyers with a value-adding experience but also leveraged our Cox Automotive partnership to gain comprehensive insights into their audience's subsequent behavior. Their campaign on Roku drove consumers to take action and learn more about their brand,” said Rick Fellen, Head of Automotive Industry, Ad Sales at Roku.
“In partnering with Roku, together we helped MINI demonstrated the incredible power of advertising to not only build brand awareness but to then connect it to measurable shopping activities on trusted sites like Autotrader, Kelley Blue Book, and local MINI dealers’ web sites. The campaign delivered new shoppers to the MINI brand that then took action to explore their vehicle offerings,” said Steve Lind, Vice President of Operations Advertising at Cox Automotive.
The results
MINI’s inventive TV streaming campaign on Roku drove a significant increase in dealer website visits, purchase intent and consideration, while painting a comprehensive picture of car buyer journeys.
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¹ Cox Automotive Car Buying Journey – 2022
