Hi everyone, I'm just looking for some feedback on a couple of things if you don't mind!!

I'm actually doing a case anaylsis on the Mini for my Final Year Project and I'm looking for a few small bits of information from people who are "Mini enthusiast's" such as yourselves!!

what I'm focusing on is : the Importance of Mini's heritage to the brand i.e looking back at the original Mini and where the key elements of the Brands image came from!!

then I'm looking at Mini today, and how the creative strategies (mainly advertising) are generating positive attitudes among consumers.... making people want to buy into the lifestyle associated with the Mini (Fun, Stylish, Trendy, Sporty etc)

then just looking overall at the impact those factors (heritage and creative strategies) have on consumers! will people actually buy Mini for those reasons or is it something else!!!


So I'd love to get some feedback on what most attracted you to buy the Mini! and do u think the background/ history of the car is an important factor to consider as well as your opinions on the companys creative advertising...

it really would be a great help to me, thanks so much!!!

 

First off, cool!


Secondly, the things that drew my family to the MINI were as follows:

1. The remake of the Italian Job
2. The uniqueness/exclusivity
3. The performance.

If you look at the list that would probably be what drew us in from a chronological view. That is to say that we first really took notice the car when we saw the Italian Job remake, it was basically a "wow, that is a cool car" moment. The idea of having a whole movie where the premise is based on the capabilities of this one particular car, that you can actually go out and by, made it really attractive. Lucky break for BMW, but the remake is an awesome piece of advertising for their car. Going back that was probably one of the effects of the original Italian Job on the general market, but that is just a guess on my part.


When my family went car shopping we said that we didnt want a plain old Toyota or something that you see all the time and just blends in. One of the things that makes the MINI appealing is that you are buying a car that looks like nothing else on the road, and even then yours is probably not even going to look like the other MINI's you see on the road. The whole aspect of "youification" wasnt one of the key elements in our purchase decision but it has been one of the things that has kept the car so appealing to me over time. Before we (I) owned one everytime I saw one driving down the road it got an emotional response. Very few cars out there are capable of doing that, and the ones that are general cost over 100k or are from the 1960's, and that is what makes the MINI desirable in my book.

Before we test drove the car we had no idea that these cars were such performers, both in base and S trim. Coming from having only ridden in SUV's this felt like a real sports car. It's one of those things you have to go out and experience yourself, but when you do watch out, you might just end up buying one (you see that story a lot around here actually).

The marketing strategy that MINI has employed has been mostly viral in nature. I have only seen one add for the MINI on TV, but it perfectly with the aproach they take on their websites, a car that can be made to suit you. Outside of that back in 2006 when I first started driving mine I was suprised at the number of people who would ask me what I thought about the MINI. Replying with a positive answer to that only helps the brand as a whole and just makes it more desirable. In that regard it is another piece of advertising that gets people to like the car.


Was that kinda what you were looking for?


PS: Did not proff read this so forgive any spelling errors.

 

wow this is awesome.

honestly i used to hate the way the mini looked back in 2002. i came into it from an acura integra. i just got my mini in dec 2008. i needed a new car because my integra was old and things went wrong a lot. i planned on getting a new car in like a year (this was in like november 2008). i thought of what i might want and before it would have always been s2000 or wrx... but something drew me to the mini. i honestly dont know what it was. so i planned on getting one in like a year. while getting service at honda i saw a used mini on the lot. i figured i'd test drive it along with the fit while waiting. it blew the fit away by 1000 times. the window sticker said 19k but the guy lured me into talking price. it ended up it was on sale for 12k. the deal was done and i had my mini in a month instead of a year i used to like to roll with the crowd but the mini made me feel like i was stepping out of my norm and it felt good. i still like how i barely ever see a car that looks like mine. everywhere i go people ask me about it or point at it or talk about it. i havent gotten much negative feedback except from some of my guy friends... they're just jealous though. =)

 

I have to say that the background and history of the original Mini has little meaning for me. It had so little exposure in America and I was barely aware of it all through my life. Just about everything I know now about the original Mini was gained from reading this forum, after purchasing my '06 MINI.

 

I'd heard good things about the new MINIs (BMW-era) just by word of mouth, and I appreciated the unique visual design. That was how MINI came to be on my radar... but that never made me want to buy one.

The girlfriend and I decided to look for a car that was sized for our (her) needs -- don't really need more than 2 seats 99% of the time, want good gas mileage, something enjoyable, etc. We took a day to test drive a Toyota Yaris (which we never found on a lot at the time), a Honda Fit, a Smart Fortwo, and at the end of the day, a MINI Cooper (justa, I believe).

The behind the wheel MINI experience blew away the others handily. I loved some of the little design touches (the indicator flick to change lanes, for example), and found that when I got back home I wanted to take another test drive the next weekend. Then I found NAM, read some mini2, and have gotten rather swept up in the fanaticism.

But it was the MINI test drive itself that made want to buy one (and I should be picking her up next weekend ... with a 1200+ road trip back home ). The fanaticism came later.

 

So, my original intentions were to get a E46 330i, but I am in a line of work where it would be ostentatious of me to drive a BMW. Been a BMW fanboy for a while, eversince E30 M3 was out when I was still in H.S, I even had suscription to Bimmer magazine at the time. After several favorable articles of the MINI on Bimmer magazine. I set my sights on either a MINI, RX-7, Mazdaspeed6, (MS3 was not out yet), MS Protoge and Honda Civic Si. I test drove all of them, the RX-7 and Mazdaspeed6 in the "Rev it UP" auto-X event, but then I went to an HPDE in Buttonwillow Raceway and got to ride in a convertible MINI. I thought to myself, well its a convertible so its heavier, not as solid and more flex to chassis, so it won't be fast. Man, was I wrong, I had my spinchter clenched tight enough to taco bend a quater. Then I knew I had to have one. In terms of heritage, I knew more about John Cooper's F1 exploits than the MINI, but I did know he played a role in "hot roding" them out and sweeping Monaco race consecutivley. In around 03 when JCW stuff came out, I knew I had to have one. So, got 04 MCS, that I no longer have, but its still in my signituare. Now, have GP0019