The new John Cooper Works is fast, MINI’s most powerful car. So we decided to target people who love speed, people who race every day — even if it’s just against the YouTube pre-roll ad.

Knowing that everyone wants to skip the annoying 5 seconds fast, we created the MINI John Cooper Works YouTube Race, and got viewers to pit themselves against our car. As the countdown begins, viewers are challenged to skip the ad before the car blasts off, turning the usually boring pre-roll ad into a virtual battle of speeds.

We bought a Youtube pre-roll ad, a commercial spot with a 5-second countdown before it’s skippable, and made it Race Time. The MINI John Cooper Works is featured on screen, revving up, and viewers are challenged to pit themselves against the car to see if they are quick enough to click on the Skip button at the end of the 5-second countdown, the same time that our car will blast off.

If the MINI John Cooper Works reaches the Skip button first, the viewer loses and will have to watch the rest of our ad. If the viewer is faster than our car and manages to click on the button first, he wins and is allowed to skip our ad.

The MINI John Cooper Works may not be the best-selling MINI model, but it is the brand’s halo car. The YouTube Race we created for its launch helped augment its status as a seriously fast car, a powerhouse. The idea also caught the attention of numerous motoring and design blogs, both local and international.