After months of consumers waiting for their favorite compact car to return because of supply chain issues, Minis are back in stock. Pereira O’Dell is helping Mini fans—known as Miniacs—celebrate, but also calling attention to those who couldn’t wait to get their signature cars and took matters into their own weird DIY hands.
During the pandemic, DIYing took the internet by storm, and Mini Cooper fans decided that a Mini dupe was the next best thing.
To combat the DIY trend and announce that production is back up to 100%, Mini teamed with Pereira O’Dell, its creative AOR of over seven years, to create the “Don’t Do It Yourself Department (DDD)”—which pays homage to the original Counter Counterfeit Commission, launched nearly 20 years ago in 2005 by then agency CP+B.
That original campaign is paid tribute to with several Easter eggs, including that the DDD Head agent is name Robert Rolfe, a mix of Rob Reilly, Tiffany Kosel (Rolfe) and David Rolfe, the original Crispin creatives and producer on the CCC campaign. Fans can also find logo tributes and the CCC DVD, which was a part of the original campaign.
The current campaign aims to shut down the DDD and invite people to go out and buy their own real Minis.
While the campaign is a brand stunt, it’s a tribute to the loyal Miniacs who actually did DIY during the pandemic. Some of the DIYs were fabricated, including the Mini fully crocheted out of yarn, but most of the images were created with Pereira O’Dell’s AI Lab using generative AI tools.
“Innovation has always been central to Mini’s marketing efforts—whether it’s being the first car brand to enter the metaverse, or being a leader in sustainability,” said founder and creative chairman PJ Pereira in a statement. “AI allowed us to DIY thousands of Minis at record speed.
Aside from the campaign video, there is also a series of social videos highlighting the Mini-dupes, which jumps on TikTok’s “dupe” trend.
@miniusa Look at this MINI DIY 🤡 While you were welding 🚗 out of duct tape the real MINI came back in stock. #DIY#Dupe#CarTok#MINITok#Humor#Funny#Rant#trend#DuctTape #DIY#DIYMINI#Crafting#CarCommunity#MINICooperTok#MINICooper#ASMR#FYP ♬ original sound – MINI USA
“While other car brands have a community with a car inside, Mini is a car with a community inside. They are one of those brands that is blessed to have a strong community of self-sustaining enthusiasts. And we love helping celebrate them,” said Pereira.