MINIverse

“We were all thrilled about the concept of taking what I think is the most fun car to drive into the metaverse. It was not about just replicating what you could experience in the real world. It was about really adding to that.” - Sebastian Beuchel, Head of MINI Global Brand

What happens when a car brand known for its Go-Kart feeling decides to race into the metaverse?

MINI, the iconic BMW Group brand, wanted the world to experience a gravity-defying ride inside a Mini Cooper through a virtual track that fused brand storytelling with pure interactive chaos. That's MINIverse, a collaboration between MINI, Pereira O'Dell and Meta's Creative Shop, unveiled at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2022.

Inside MINIverse, up to four drivers could race across a gravity-defying track, complete with loops, jumps, and interactive mayhem. Spectators could drop pins, trigger ramps, or launch cars off course. Players personalised their MINIs with color combinations, bonnet stripes and contrast roofs before hitting the track, and could unlock special EV models as they climbed the leaderboard.

My Role

My role was to extend MINIverse beyond the headset. While the main experience lived in VR, I built the Instagram AR effect that brought it to everyone else. A compact racing game controlled entirely by facial gestures. Steering, accelerating, dodging, all hands-free. No VR required. Just scan, play, race.

The Stakes

Every 3D asset was rebuilt and optimised in Blender. Gameplay logic was scripted from scratch in JavaScript. Nothing was there that didn't need to be.

The entire AR effect had to live under 4MB. Assets, scripts, 3D models, gameplay logic — everything. That's Meta's hard limit. Hitting that ceiling while keeping it fast, polished and genuinely fun was the defining challenge of this build.

The Results

At Meta Beach, Cannes, visitors scanned a QR code and were racing within seconds. No headset. No download. Just instant MINIverse in your pocket.

MINIverse became one of Meta's first case studies on using AR to extend the reach of a VR campaign. It went on to run one of the first large-scale AR Ads campaigns across the US, UK and Canada.

MINIverse taught me that the best experiences don't live in one medium. My piece was small relative to the full VR world, but it carried the same mission. Make technology feel playful, fast, and unmistakably fun. Recognised at Cannes Lions. Featured across Meta's showcase.

Toolkit

Meta Spark Studio · JavaScript · Blender · Meta Horizon Worlds · Photoshop

Team

• Meta Creative Shop
  • Antonio Marcato: Creative Director & Project Lead
  • Glenn Davis: Vertical Lead NA Autos
  • Karen Maurice-O’Leary: Product Lead
  • Derek Scott: AR Creative Lead
  • Sparsh Chaudhary: AR Developer
  • Thomas Bourret: AR Specialist
  • Tom Gilmartin: Creative Director & Group Lead
• Creative Agency
  • Pereira O’Dell

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