Location-Based Marketing and Mini Countryman (Stockholm)

By Brian Barth, Captains of Industry



MINI just launched a location-based marketing campaign in Europe to promote their new MINI Countryman release.  Users download an app that displays a map with the coordinates of several virtual MINI Countryman cars scattered throughout their city.  The user navigates his way to one of the locations to claim the car.  Once he has claimed the car the map displays other people playing the game in the area, and if any of the other players come within 50 meters of the user they can steal the car.  After a week of playing, the last one standing with the MINI on his/her phone receives a real MINI Countryman.  A game of cat and mouse with a car as reward—that sounds like the perfect combination of fun and marketing, right?
 
Possibly.  A game is a great way to incorporate people who weren’t even looking for a car.  It’s a free app and anyone can become a player and therefore a customer.  What’s also great is that the contest functions as a publicity stunt; if you see a person running through the streets with their iPhone out and you know about the contest, you’ll think about the MINI Countryman again.  Then again, you might just think there’s another crazy person on the loose. 
 
No matter how cool this idea is, I’m left with an uneasy feeling in my stomach.  The contest itself doesn’t say much about MINI or what’s special about the Countryman model. And more than that, anyone else weirded out by people you don’t know potentially chasing you through the streets of Stockholm?  I wonder if the world is ready for that.