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Carmonica

Issue 21 | December 2011

Agency

DRAFTFCB Auckland

Creative Team

Executive Creative Director: James Mok ; Creative Directors: Billy McQueen, Chris Schofield ; Creative Teams: Jack Delmonte, Jonathan Fox, Billy McQueen, Chris Schofield

Production Team

Director: Nic Finlayson ; Producers: Phil Leifting Casey King ; Account Director: Toby Sellers ; Account Manager: Katie Loverich ; Retouching: Graeme Cooper ; Photographer: Simon Cooper ; Designers: Gyro ; Production: Jason Jones

Date

13 Jan - Ongoing

Background

There was one brief with two objectives. Not only was there a desire to increase local test drive numbers but also a requirement to demonstrate that Mini is one of the world's most customisable cars.

Idea

What the agency came up with was an idea that pushed Mini’s customisation promise to the fullest. Introducing 'Carmonica’. A car with over 300 harmonicas added on to it so that it literally hummed about the city, catching attention, attracting test-drives, visiting music festivals and car shows while promoting the overall theme, 'Custom Awesome'. The stunt also led people online where they could customise footage of Minis in action. The information gathered on each user was then fed back to the showroom dealers.

Results

The Carmonica reached a third of all New Zealanders and test-drives doubled from the previous month. Web traffic grew by over 800 and the idea also caught the attention of James May from the UK's Top Gear TV show. Now the world's most watched car programme is doing a story on Carmonica, scheduled for season 17.

Our Thoughts

This idea is totally daft. But as far as doing daft things to get attention and build a brand, it’s up there. Admittedly there are no hard results, but if Top Gear do a story on the Carmonica in the upcoming season, DraftFCB will have a winning strategy for reaching consumers who are car-fanatics.

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