We grew up with commercials telling us to buy any sort of thing.

And now, that we can finally afford buying, we are not interested in buying anymore.

So to launch the first-evert financial solution that allows you to have a MINI without purchasing it, we simply did what our target wanted: we did not sell it.

And to do so, we choose the most hard-selling code in advertising, something we, in Italy, are all very familiar with: teleshopping.

Teleshopping, the pinnacle of promotion, driven by one simple rule: SELL, SELL, SELL.

So why did we choose this code for not selling a product? Simple, because MINI never follows the rules. Introducing: Tele-No-Shopping. The first teleshopping commercial that tells you not to shop.

We replicate all the stereotypical codes of teleshopping.

A cheap-lighted set, a loud and overexcited anchorman, a beautiful and silent assistant (we said it, it’s about stereotypes!). We abused of overlay writings (promos, dubious promises and a telephone number. A real one, that hundreds used to discover the product) and overdosed predictable and overselling wordplays.

The result? The genuine feeling of those kind of ads that nobody really missed. With only a little difference in the call to action: “Don’t buy it!”. For the first time we invited people not to buy anything.

We created two long format ad to be run on MINI’s YouTube Channel and Facebook page and a series of 20”/15” pills planned through targeted sponsored posts and prerolls. A budget saving solution and an effective way to catch up to our core target with a direct link to leads form and product web page.

The campaign received a huge response:

The video was shared and watched more than 4 millions times.

Up to 6.000 Facebook positive reactions.

More than 350.000 visits to dedicated website.

Up to 2.000 generated leads in 2 weeks.

Traffic to dealer + 32% and signed contracts + 11% (compared to previous promotional campaign).

0 cars sold.