The Mini Takes on Flash Video - How Mini Cooper is Using Amplified WOM to Drive Visitors
I am always on the lookout for interesting uses of flash video, especially for marketing purposes. So it was no surprise that the mini cooper amplified wom effort named Hammer and Coop caught my eye. Hammer, a fictional character reminiscent of Starksy and Hutch meets up with Coop, a mini cooper that ends up being his partner. Together, they take you on a whirlwind journey through six exciting webisodes where Hammer takes on criminals, ninjas, and anything else they could think up. It's quite entertaining.
First, Production Value
The production value is through the roof on the site and webisodes. With lots of user generated video making news, you can see what production dollars and professional writers get you. (Not that I'm against user generated video, I love it, but check out this site to see what I mean!) The actors were excellent, the webisodes were well written, and the site worked extremely well.
Second, Video Value
The site utilizes widescreen video at 575x325 and the compression was very clean. The controls were easy to identify and easy to use, including the volume control. The menu system was also easy to identify and provided some nice rollovers to identify the name of each webisode. Overall, the site provides a clean and professional interface with a focus on the video (which I would also aim to do, since I can only imagine the budget for this amplified wom campaign.) Overall, and for those of you focused on video production, your jaw will drop with some of the stunts that are part of the webisodes. As an added benefit, there is a music video you can access from the main menu to the song from Asia called Heat of the Moment. For those of you in your 30's or older, you know the song!
Third, the Marketing Value
The goal of the site is to clearly generate buzz online and to send a lot of traffic to the ultra-entertaining site (at least the marketing team hopes so...) I actually think it will. And you know what, it should! I think they did a great job at incorporating the mini as a star in the actual webisodes, and with a personality no less! The car talks and has a witty english accent to boot! The site has some viral elements on it like a downloadable screensaver, wallpaper, and buddy icons. That's very smart, since people like passing elements like this around, which in turn, could bring more traffic to the site. In addition, there is an action hero name generator, which provides an interesting version of your name, but action-hero like! My name was Granite Grinder, which I may start using for my blog posts! ;-) A quick search on technorati for hammer and coop yielded 426 blog posts about it, so the word is getting out. Good luck to mini, and again, I applaud their efforts!
To check it out (and if you are a video production professional, you'll want to spend some time on the site), follow this link: http://www.hammerandcoop.com/
To read more about flash video marketing, visit The Internet Marketing Driver, my blog dedicated to web marketing strategy.
GG
Labels: Advertising, Flash Video, WOM
posted by Glenn Gabe @ 1:32 PM
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