• NY Times, Friday, December 9, 2005 12:15 PM

More evidence has surfaced that national marketers are looking for out-of-the-box, innovative, media-neutral advertising strategies. In another chapter of a growing trend, automaker Mini Cooper has picked a small, creatively driven boutique agency to handle its $40 million account. The agency is Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners in Sausalito, Calif., which is known for its offbeat campaigns for marketers like Converse footwear, Leap Wireless and Ubi Soft Entertainment, all of which utilize new media extensively. For example, a recent Converse effort invited consumers to enter a contest by sending video clips they created to a special Web site--in effect, having them produce the brand's commercials. "The Converse work was something that really attracted us," said Jim McDowell, vice president for Mini, which is part of the BMW North America division of BMW. Mini Cooper is not alone in hiring agencies like Butler, Shine. Other marketers that have made similar moves include Anheuser-Busch, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Procter & Gamble, SABMiller and Target. "There's an evolution across the agency business because of client demand," said Hasan Ramusevic, president at Hasan & Company in Raleigh, N.C., which helped manage the review for Mini USA. Most larger marketers seeking agencies "are intrigued by" the new breed, Ramusevic said, as they increasingly demand what he called "big brand ideas from a media-neutral point of view" --that is, not automatically insisting that a campaign be dominated by traditional media like TV commercials, a strategy that has been standard operating procedure for so many larger agencies .

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