Mini world record

Tasked with engaging one million people with the MINI Countryman - the new, spacious 4-door model from the iconic British car brand – we challenged the British public to help us smash the world record for the number of people squeezed into one of their cars…but digitally.

In shopping centres and train terminals in eight major cities across the UK we installed a life-size fiberglass replica of the new Countryman. With the latest in digital technology we enabled people to create video footage of themselves in onsite video capture booths, to upload that footage and then immediately see it projected onto the inside of the car, as if they were packed tightly inside. People were then able to share footage of themselves inside the MINI on a their own Facebook profile and ongoing record attempts were updated live at MINI.co.uk and on MINI’s own branded Facebook page. Employing brain-aching technology and the creation of bespoke software that necessitated 1.5GB per second of data output, this was a vastly ambitious project. How much is 1.5GB of data? One hour of TV is about 1GB. About seven minutes of HD TV is about 1GB. 114 minutes of uncompressed audio on CD is about 1GB.

The MINI Countryman installation was an extraordinary technological undertaking that took the very best in digital thinking and brought it into the real world. Both in planning and execution it demonstrated the importance of marrying, and giving each equal presence to each of, strategy, creativity and technology, in this increasingly digital age.

The results? 5,672 people crammed into the replica car up and down the UK and a 30 second walk-by become, on average, a seven-minute engagement; and the target of 1 million people engaging with the MINI Countryman prior to any ATL activity was smashed: we reached 1.5 million! Furthermore, and perhaps most importantly to the MINI team, the new car sold out before it was formally launched. The Great British public, it seemed, could not get their hands on the new cars quick enough.