Story Time

When you’re thinking about a family car as a busy parent, you tend to think of the biggest SUV as you can afford:  With a big boot for all the gubbins, enough room to prevent squabbling and styling taking an (ahem) back seat… None of this sounds like a MINI.

The launch of the Countryman range delivered a practical and stylish entrant into the SUV market but with the challenge of being a brand not traditionally perceived as a family friendly.

We needed to make our family purchaser consider the MINI brand and see how it could solve their problems.  We needed a partner to allow MINI to create relevance in this market and promote consideration.

To get their attention, we needed to look beyond the necessities of their life stage, beyond cars and prams and bags of recycling.  We needed to link with the bits they treasure, to find the things that are most important to families.

Our research showed a tension between what parents wanted and what they achieved.  Although their highest priority was “spending quality time together creating memorable experiences” the average British family spent just 34 minutes together a day.

This was a job for MINI!  We would show how MINI Countryman could facilitate unmissable, shared experiences through content and compelling storytelling.

A partnership with English Heritage and the Telegraph, would facilitate unmissable, shared  family experiences and curate engaging content on platforms families trusted and were already engaging with.

To help Telegraph readers get out in the countryside and experience more together as a family, we commissioned four bestselling children’s authors Cerrie Burnell, Peter Bently, Janina Ramirez and Tim Knapman. They wrote taut tales set at the  four key English Heritage locations where MINI were staging interactive open air events (Kenilworth Castle, Battle Abbey, Dover Castle and Bolsover Castle). With characters brought to life by award-winning illustrator Rob Biddulph, these tales were turned into print executions.

Meanwhile, charming animated videos, narrated by former CBeebies presenter Cerrie Burnell, were created, perfect for getting the kids excited about the historical adventures ahead on the car journey.