Malaysia – Global advertising company Publicis Groupe in Malaysia has been appointed by automotive manufacturer BMW in Malaysia to handle its strategic planning, creative advertising, and digital for BMW passenger cars, Motorrad and MINI business units, which will take effect in April 2022.

During the pitch, Publicis Groupe has developed a compelling strategy and holistic ideas on how to lead, promote, and educate electric vehicle adopters for the BMW and MINI brands, as the automotive industry transitions to electric mobility.

The remit will see Publicis Groupe enhancing BMW Malaysia’s consumer journey, elevating their brand experiences, and crafting a sustainability narrative, as well as building brand relevance for each brand and their audiences. 

Through the remit, Publicis Groupe Malaysia is now setting up bespoke hybrid teams to manage the brands separately with domain experts and related automotive experience.

Neil Hudspeth, Publicis Groupe’s CEO for Malaysia, commented that they could not be happier and prouder to warmly welcome BMW and Motorrad, and of course continue their relationship with MINI, one of the world’s most recognisable car brands. 

“It is incredibly rewarding to see world-class work being recognised by world-class and storied brands, and we look forward to achieving great things together over the next five years, especially as together we can help shape the automotive narrative in Malaysia,” said Hudspeth.

Publicis Groupe Malaysia is also the incumbent agency for MINI Malaysia.

Singapore – Interpublic Group (IPG) has announced that its bespoke solution, Team Dynamic, has been named the regional production and operations partner for luxury vehicle company BMW Group.

Team Dynamic integrates production and operations resources on a responsive, data-driven technology platform. It incorporates both onshore and offshore production solutions, delivering quality outputs in a streamlined, efficient way. 

The new partnership consolidates remit across 11 markets with IPG, following Team Dynamic’s appointment as a production partner in Japan and India in early 2021. The new markets include Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand, as well as the Middle East, and South Africa. 

Through the new partnership, Team Dynamic will be handling content production for both BMW and MINI’s media requirements, including digital and offline production, website management and maintenance, marketing campaign services, and after-sales and financial services marketing support.

Mish Fletcher, IPG’s chief growth officer for APAC, commented that they are thrilled to extend their partnership with the BMW Group in the Asia Pacific, Middle East and South Africa through their proven Team Dynamic production model. 

“Our connected technology solution allows for real-time optimization, consistency, and flexibility while ensuring unbeatable content production quality at speed and scale,” said Fletcher.

Australia – Automotive brand MINI in Australia and New Zealand has extended its retail advertising technology partnership with local-based adtech Cartelux.

Through the renewed partnership, Cartelux will be responsible for allowing MINI dealers in the region to create and launch digital advertising campaigns in less than 60 seconds, making Australia and New Zealand the first markets in a global pilot for the BMW Group.

Additionally, Cartelux will be simplifying and automating ad creation, streamlining approvals needed, and expediting the media buying process, to save time and cost for the regional office, which is based in Melbourne, and the entire Dealer Network.

MINI ANZ’s Retail and Network Marketing Manager Victoria Abbass shared that Cartelux is enabling MINI to deliver cohesive, integrated digital campaigns in a way that was previously much more laborious.

“Working with Cartelux, all our dealers can now run vibrant digital advertising campaigns for local area marketing with minimal input and effort. This means the dealer marketing managers are free to focus on other priorities, delivering cost, and time efficiencies,” said Abbass.

Meanwhile, Patrick Doble, global general manager at Cartelux, said, “It’s exciting working with MINI on this platform and seeing how Victoria is extending capabilities to dealers that really innovate and benefit the company.”

Auckland, New Zealand – Automotive brand MINI, as part of their promotion of its car features, has recently collaborated with creative agency Colenso BBDO to launch a new campaign, centered around the hazards in improper braking.

Titled ‘Danger Brakes for You’, the campaign features an array of four pictures: a hoof, a paw, a child’s foot and someone wearing roller skates, all representing potential hazards on the road that can trigger the driver to apply the brakes.

MINI aims that through this campaign, they will be able to promote their growing suite of smart features, starting with automatic emergency brake assist – a feature that senses obstacles on the road in front of the car and automatically applies the car’s braking system. 

For Victoria Abbass, retail and network marketing manager at MINI, part of the reason why they also took the ‘quirky’ turn for their campaign was to ‘humanize’; how technology is being explained, as cars nowadays are getting more advanced.

“’Danger brakes for you’ is visually disruptive and intriguing, but ultimately it’s so simple and that’s what we love about it,” Abbass said.

Meanwhile, Simon Vicars, executive creative director at Colenso BBDO, commented, “We were searching for a quick and simple way to explain complicated tech. This idea felt fast and funny, which for us are the right two ingredients for making a memorable MINI campaign.”

Photographed by New Zealand photographer Mat Baker, the campaign will roll out across social media channels, as well as in print and OOH media.

Colenso BBDO’s recent campaign with MINI follows their recent work with the New Zealand arm of non-profit organization World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).