Consideration

MINI's road to success

MINI

A "test and learn” agenda helped MINI achieve a 66% higher engagement rate on Pinterest in Q4 compared to the previous quarter on Pinterest—at considerably lower costs than indicated by internal benchmarks.

How do you make the maximum use of minimal space? It’s a question that’s been preoccupying urban dwellers for generations. MINI’s answer is simple: “Creative Use of Space.” In other words, enhancing the experience by sticking to the essentials. As the iconic small car for the urban lifestyle, time and time again, MINI has shown customers how this works.

Setting the pace as efficiently and effectively as possible, MINI became the first German car manufacturer to campaign on Pinterest, revving up shortly after advertising opportunities were first launched on the platform. The goal? To inspire new and existing customers with MINI’s recipe for success and put select car models in the spotlight.

Pinners turn to Pinterest for inspiration in a very early phase of the decision-making process—to plan their everyday life as well as major life moments —making Pinterest an ideal choice for the campaign.

Key results:

47%

lower CPC vs. MINI’s internal benchmarks¹

66%

boost in engagement rate vs. previous quarter¹

The MINI and Pinterest teams worked closely together to develop a tailor-made targeting strategy. With each car line, they aimed to cater to Pinners’ specific interests and reach out to them with relevant topics. To achieve this, they created Pins that highlighted each model’s assets within a corresponding scenario. For example, the spaciousness of the MINI Clubman was highlighted within a “life moment” setting, such as getting a new pet. Likewise, the fully electric MINI Cooper SE was highlighted within the context of environmentalism.

For the targeting strategy to have an impact in the early stages of the purchase intent phase, non-branded keywords were used alongside brand-related keywords.

A “test and learn” agenda developed by the team helped MINI navigate the campaign. This allowed them to continuously adapt their course of action and further boost success based on the insights gained.

It quickly became obvious that MINI had made the right choice by selecting Pinterest as a partner. When it came to their CPCs, MINI saw a drop of 27% vs. their internal benchmarks. Plus, in the fourth quarter the brand’s CPCs were even lower—a reduction of 47% vs. internal benchmarks, while the engagement rate improved by 66% in comparison to the previous quarter.¹

Tips for your next campaign
Try these Pinterest best practices to get more out of your ads:

1.
Aim for cost-efficiency. Optimise your brand’s CPC by implementing Pinterest’s Creative Best Practices.

2.
Experiment with placements. Start broadly with “all placements” and limit these situationally along the funnel.

3.
Make use of situational targeting to convey specific topics (i.e., wedding as a “life moment”) and interest targeting to reach a broad audience on Pinterest.

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