MINI took out a full-page color ad in the New York Times in the form of an open letter to Porsche. The next day, we released a viral video from the president of MINI USA, addressing the president of Porsche. When Porsche declined, we quickly released another video. We started a petition on Facebook spurring fans to show their support for the race. We taunted Porsche with aerial banners flying over their corporate headquarters and we created MINI vs. Porsche collectible sets and sent them to the press. After two weeks of intense conversation, it was time for race day.

MINI earned over 3.3 million top-tier press impressions from print, TV and online coverage of the event. Over 300,000 people watched the various MINI vs. Porsche videos. On the day of the NY Times print ad, online posts instantly increased tenfold. This level of buzz was maintained at five to ten times normal levels throughout the campaign. MINI’s Facebook page views, which usually hover around 1,000 per day, spiked to 82,000 on the day of the race. In total, the MINI vs. Porsche Facebook tab generated 430,000 views, 15,000 petition signatures and almost 8,000 new fans.