MINI | MINI DOMINATRIX | 2006
A Dominatrix to Help You Dominate Winter / MINI "DOMINATRIX"
Winter in Canada, 2006. Anyone who visited MINI's website was greeted by a dominatrix in leather. Click on each part of the car, and she'd "discipline" the MINI with a whip or a paddle while explaining its winter safety features. Kinky, bold, and impossible to forget.
The idea
Canadian winters are brutal: ice, snow, frozen roads. MINI is designed to give drivers "total control." To communicate that kind of dominance over winter, TAXI landed on a metaphor: the dominatrix. As she whips, smacks, and torments the MINI, she explains how each safety feature "dominates" the season. It all played out as an interactive web film.
What happened
Awards: GOLD (details unknown). For TAXI, the MINI account was one of the most award-winning pieces of business they had over ten years.
Afterthought
"Dominate" and "dominatrix" — the wordplay is perfect, the visuals are striking, and for a web ad from 2006, it's pretty daring. But honestly, what I really want to know is how this idea came about and how the client reacted to it. It's a shame that part isn't clear. Still, there's no question it's fun to watch, so it's worth checking out.
Awards
- Cannes Lions Gold 2006
