Mini marks Yahoo! ad first

Web portal Yahoo! UK & Ireland has teamed up with BMW to create what it claims is a “double advertising first”.

Yahoo! says it has become the first website in the UK to broadcast a streaming media placement of BMW’s new Mini commercial. According to Yahoo! this also represents the first streamed ad on the Yahoo! UK & Ireland homepage, marking a move away from traditional banner ads.

The ad was placed on the website for just one day, Friday July 13. Yahoo! is now looking at developing this advertising genre with other partners.

Yahoo! developed the placement with Zenith Interactive Solutions – responsible for Mini’s online media planning and buying – and ehsrealtime – which planned strategy and produced online creative work.

The commercial was developed by WCRS, and is the cinema cut of the “Martians” commercial. It is a tongue-in-cheek, 50-second film showing London being invaded by robotic aliens, only for Mini to save the day. The endline is: “It’s a Mini adventure”.

Yahoo! UK & Ireland head of agency sales Joannah Bishop comments: “The expectation surrounding the launch of the new Mini is considerable.

“By facilitating the media streaming placement for one day on our homepage, we were ensuring maximum brand leverage for Mini and also providing our users with all the information they needed at a click of a button. This is a clear endorsement of the brand building capabilities of online.”

Mini marketing manager Emma Scammell adds: “It was fitting for the Mini to be associated with something so innovative and fresh. The Mini is far removed from the bland mainstream small car market and the streaming of the ‘Martians’ cinema commercial was a great way to convey what the Mini is all about to a mass digital audience.”