MINI USA launched a fake task force to stop fans DIYing their own Coopers

The global supply chain crisis caused DIY versions of everything, and would-be MINI owners who could not buy a real car expressed their love through DIY content. As the crisis ended, MINI USA needed to announce production was back to 100% and cars were in stock.

A fake task force — the Don't Do-It-Yourself Department — 'calls out' the DIY MINI epidemic on TikTok, then reveals: stop DIYing, the real MINIs are back.

Seemingly real DIY MINI tutorial TikToks, then the fake task force answering them; some DIYs were fabricated IRL — a fully crocheted MINI, cardboard, duct tape and Ramen-noodle builds — while most images came from Pereira O'Dell's AI Lab with generative tools, homage to 2005's Counter Counterfeit Commission.

The campaign announced MINI's production back at 100% by riding TikTok's 'dupe' trend, and celebrated the community PJ Pereira called 'a car with a community inside'.

During the global supply chain crisis, would-be MINI owners who could not get their hands on the real thing began building do-it-yourself versions instead — from furniture to an actual submarine, DIY content exploded across TikTok. As the crisis ended, MINI USA needed a way to announce its cars were back in stock, and turned the DIY trend insight into a ridiculous epidemic: the Do-It-Yourself MINI.

With creative AOR Pereira O'Dell, the brand created the Don't Do-It-Yourself Department — a fake task force that alerts the public and calls out MINI DIYers on their favourite platform, paying homage to MINI's original Counter Counterfeit Commission from nearly 20 years earlier in 2005. MINI USA first posted seemingly real DIY MINI Cooper tutorial TikToks made by fans who couldn't wait any longer.

Some of the DIYs were fabricated in real life, including a MINI fully crocheted out of yarn, but most of the images were created with Pereira O'Dell's AI Lab using generative AI tools. Founder PJ Pereira said supply chain issues lasting well beyond the pandemic would have made the original creative impossible to produce — AI allowed them to 'DIY thousands of MINIs at record speed'. The builds spanned cardboard, duct tape and even Ramen Noodles.

Once everyone was convinced people were desperately DIYing the MINI, the announcement landed: 'Stop DIYing our cars. The MINIs are back. Go get a real one, right now.'

The fans' DIY content was already advertising the brand's appeal; the campaign amplified it instead of contradicting it.

Announcing restocked inventory through a fictional enforcement agency gave a supply-chain update a story worth sharing.

Generative AI solved a production paradox: a campaign about DIY scarcity made during a time when production itself wasn't at 100%.

Reviving the 2005 Counter Counterfeit Commission gave longtime fans a callback and the new task force a mock-institutional pedigree.

The best restock announcement doesn't say 'we're back' — it plays inside the fandom's own joke until the punchline lands as news.

The campaign closed with the punchline announcement that MINI production was back up to 100% and real cars were available. Pereira O'Dell, MINI USA's creative AOR of over seven years, framed the work as another chapter in a brand whose marketing has spanned being first in the metaverse to sustainability leadership — and whose community 'self-sustains'.