You always knew Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Miami, were a close-knit bunch but did you know the star of CP+B's online 'myth' for Mini is actually agency producer Rupert Samuel's dad?

Jon Samuel plays fake scientist Colin Mayhew in the "top secret" video clips posted online and directed by Loni Peristere at LA effects shop Zoic, LA. The hoax - much like Wieden + Kennedy's Sega/ESPN scam - centered around a rumor: that Mayhew was busy assembling working robots out of Mini car parts deep in the heart of Oxfordshire.

Apparently Samuel (Jr.) was knee-deep in casting troubles when his dad phoned and "it struck me that his background and personality would be ideal for the needs of the part". Not only was Dad based in Oxford, he was a 35-year veteran of electric car engineering and design. In lieu of an audition tape, Rupert forwarded a vid of Dad speaking at his sister's wedding to the creatives, who flew Samuel Sr. in from Spain (where he was on vacation). He read the brief on the plane.

Samuel says his dad really got into the part, going so far as to "Englishize" some of the technical jargon associated with the construction and workings of the robot. The shoot went so well that the Crispin creatives decided they wanted names of some more Samuel compatriots to round out the finer details of the project. Accordingly, Rupert rang round his mates and relatives in the UK asking permission to use their names - "not an easy one to explain, especially to your 85 year old grandmother".

His grandparents' surname, Casson, became the moniker of the fake "publishing company" for the Men of Metal 'informational' booklet inserted into magazines. And the name of the 'author'? Rowland Samuel (Rupert's brother, who works in London at Arden Sutherland-Dodd).

The upshot: Samuel Sr. finally realizes what his sons actually do for a living. Trouble is, "he now fancies himself as an actor," says Rupert. "And my grandmother still doesn't understand what the hell this is all about."