35 million people have access to the internet in the UK so it has become an important communication medium for many brands. Over the years, MINI has created a series of online adverts to catch people's attention and encourage them to visit the MINI website.

Like adverts in a magazine, flash banners sit on particular pages of a website. 'Flash' is the technology used to create the banners. Ads like this can be very creative as animated images or video can be included. Often the viewer can interact with the advert, for example having a tug of war with a MINI.

Eyeblasters (sometimes called 'page takeovers') are large-size adverts that appear as a layer over the top of the web page itself, rather than in a separate window. This means the adverts can cover up or play around with the other elements on the page: for example a MINI could drive across the screen. They can also have sound (though the user normally needs to activate this).

The latest development in this field of advertising is 'digital outdoor'. At its simplest, this means images that are projected using giant TV equipment. These can be changed at the flick of a switch so there's no need for expensive printing and time-consuming wallpaper pasting. This type of advert can be thought of as a paperless poster. Where it's allowed, for example in stations and on the London Underground, these adverts can be animated.

Another development is 'interactive outdoor'. Sites at ground level, for example, in bus shelters, can now offer people something extra, perhaps a ringtone or a voucher or a video message, which they can download to their phone using Bluetooth. This makes the advert more interesting to people and lets the advertiser provide more information about its product.

TV, cinema and poster campaigns are used to deliver high impact brand communication, which means that the message is very visual and makes the viewer feel strongly about what he or she is seeing. However, it is sometimes important to balance a marketing campaign with more detailed messages. Magazine and newspaper advertising can do this effectively as the reader has time to absorb the message (if you can grab their attention!).

The first MINI campaigns in 2001 centred on the idea of 'IT'S A MINI ADVENTURE'. Each showed a highly dramatic escapade compressed into a short space of time: a MINI adventure. In more recent adverts the adventurous spirit of MINI remains, but the creative idea has often been more about MINI's wonderful individuality.

While the same adverts are often shown in both TV and cinema, the big screen offers its own possibilities. One cinema advert showed a MINI driven along a country lane and disappearing into the distance. But the advert was treated as a feature film, with a classification page and full credits. The film entered the Guinness World Records as the shortest movie ever made, lasting just 12 seconds. This is an example of how MINI plays with traditional advertising media to create something innovative and fun.