A Holiday Act of Kindness

At this time of year, when marketers bombard customers with cries to choose their brand for holiday shopping ("50% off Holiday Special!" "Gift Cards for the Whole Family!" "Last Chance for Free Shipping - Guaranteed by Christmas!"), it's understandable why some might confuse our holidays - the "holy days" for our families, churches, communities, and societies - as days invented by marketers to buy and sell and make a buck.

And so, it's nice to see marketers who seem to remember that Christmas, Hanukkah, and our other December holidays are meant as times of giving, of gratitude, of love, of humility, of rejoicing in what our Creator has done for us.

In that spirit of giving, MINI Canada extended some holiday cheer to otherwise frazzled shoppers in this recent marketing campaign:



At shopping malls in Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, ad agency Taxi 2 tied three-foot red helium balloons announcing "Your Mini Is Here" to all of the MINI Coopers in the parking lot, helping MINI-owners to easily find their vehicles by quickly scanning the lot.

This stunt achieved three things:

(1) It drew attention to the MINI brand. MINI-owner or not, if you shopped at (or drove past) one of those malls on those days, you noticed bright red balloons plastered with the MINI brand, proudly celebrating each MINI.

(2) It honored each current MINI customer. Marketers sometimes spend so much time and energy attracting new customers that they neglect their current customers. MINI flipped that on its head by lending an unexpected helping hand to each current MINI customer at the mall, and rewarding their MINI-ownership.

(3) It brought joy and laughter to all observers. For the MINI-owners, other mall patrons, passers-by, and us watching the video online, this zany surprise relieved the stress of shopping - or of everyday life - with a few laughs and good-natured merriment.

Bravo to MINI. If a company is going to invest marketing dollars on a PR campaign to raise brand awareness and sales, they may as well invest in a campaign that raises people's spirits also.