Being In Birmingham-Alabama, I have noticed alot of MINI's in our area that don't know about us. I was thinking if putting up a billboard in a strategic place would be worth it. I know they are getting kinda pricey, but maybe split up by a few members wouldn't be so bad. I think it might even help us grow during our season that is kinda slow. So that maybe by late winter or spring, we would have even more fun with our group. So Whatcha think?

PS I have a inside on a brother in-law discount on lets say certin billboards.

Where would you put it where most folks would see it? Sounds like a neat idea.


Why not all go and park in front of the car show together at the civic center, and gripe about no TW service?

Before you joined us we went directly to TW & parked in their lot & griped about service. Did it do any good . I'll let you deduce that one . I even told the B'ham News what we were doing & they sent a photographer to take a few pics but alas we didn't make the paper. (I don't think we had enough Minis there to look newsworthy )

On the billboard thing, I would be curious to see the cost & also to know the best location to put it.

I agree the car show would have been a great time to get the most group exposure but I guess we are a bit late trying to organize that

I do think the best (free) exposure we could get would be to organize an event & tell the B'ham News about it. I think they would come but the key to making the paper would be a massive Mini turnout.

Maybe if one of the News' favorite local actresses drove a MINI, it'd make the Cover of the Sunday lifestyle section (et al).

Yes, I did read a backlog of entries regarding your TW experience. Just being snide last night. Glad to be in the group.

Well we're awfully glad to have ya

Good idea on the sign. You guys have a good club down there. We have quite a few members but we are lucky to get more than 4 cars to show up at any given time. Not many internet users up here so it's very limited participation. (look at the frappr map I set up for the Alabama Motoring Society. Only three from up here have added themselves. )

Just4fun already has some cool decals for people to see. Have you thought about the Christmas parade if Birmingham has one? It'll get out if you have some MINIs in it. Make sure to place the full, correct name of the club on the cars so they can be read. Don't put B.A.M.A on the cars. Put www.bamamini.com. We all know what B.A.M.A is but those not close to NAM or B.A.M.A will not know how to contact your group.

Last year we had RC MINI on the cars. Not www.rocketcitymini.com and I saw no increase at all on the site days following the parade. We knew what RC MINI stood for but in hindsight, I bet others thought it had something to do with remote controlled cars.

One other suggestion. One that we need to work on is to have a banner to place at dinners that display the correct club name, abbreviated name and website.

Good luck with it.

Yeah for a while it got to where we would only have 3-4 Minis turn out at events
but lately we have been having really good turnouts & I hope it just keeps
growing & growing& growing & growing

p.s...maybe we should look into getting some car magnets that have www.bamamini.com on them. I have no window room for another decal but I wouldn't minds having a magnet say on the boot.

you all are a fun bunch. Thanks!!

I like the banner idea. Or a table centerpiece with a towering placard.

I must say this and then eveyone can hate me if they want. But When we where trying to get a website started the first time ,no one wanted to put any money down for the site. But ofcouse a few put in to get it up and running.
Why would you think the few members that we have would go in on a Billboard? It is a great idea but I think we will have the same problems we had with the website.

Maybe we could buy one of those ads for the people who arrive at the movies on time?

bHow about a bumper sticker with BAMAMINI.com on it. At least someone like the MINI Cooper that followed me through Homewood yesterday would have seen it. I am not a fan of bumper stickers on my MINI though so how about a static cling with the web site address for inside the side or back window. I might put a bumper sticker on the company car: "My other car is a MINI Cooper". TT and jst4fun you could put one on your trucks.

I have checked on the billboard idea and a small one will cost you $1200 a month for a minimum of 6 months. I don't think together we could put that kind of money together.

We could try to publicize the Toys for Tots Christmas Ride.

It is shameful that I have over 70 names on the BAMA list and we can only get 8 or 10 to show up for events. I guess I will continue to send out the emails and hope someone other than the "Faithful Few" will come and support the events. I realize everyone has a lot to do, and if I had children at home they would certainly take precedence over those things MINI. I will climb down off my soap box now and become the passive MINI owner again.

Thanks to all who have continued to support BAMA and Rocket City by attending events, supporting BAMAMINI.com, RocketCityMINI.com, Magicmini.com and posting here. You have certainly demonstated your passion for our little motoring MINI.

I am late to the party, but I think a billboard would be SUPER-COOL!

Maybe we could get MINI-USA to chip in a little bit?

How about doing the "Let's Motor, Y'all" and a cars character MINI?

MINIUSA advertised in the Huntsville Times two weeks ago so maybe you could talk with them. Then again. Sonic owns MINI of Nashville and I do believe Global in Atlanta. They aren't a generous company from what I hear but maybe contact them since they have two dealerships within 3 hours of Birmingham.

I completely understand and agree with your soap box statement, Golfman.

I'll stick anything on the truck but not on the Mini but we san still do some stickers & I will stick them all over the truck & I will adhere one to a piece of that car magnet stuff & put it on the Mini

The Christmas parade idea is a good one. Do we have a B'ham area parade? I think Vestavia has one with a pretty good crowd turnout but we should get on that right now if we wanna attempt it. If so MBE the Atlanta Minis will share their antler templates with us. What they do in their parade is adorable & very attention getting.

We could put decal/magnet on the side of our Minis advertising our group(s). But.... we have to find enough folks willing to participate & also willing to spend the moolah on the antlers. I think I saw that the materials run them $85 each, plus the antlers could be reused, so maybe we could participate in more than one area parade. Isn't there a Cullman or Huntsville parade? Maybe we could travel around & try to hit a few. I would be willing to do it.

The Vestavia Christmas Parade is Saturday, Dec 2nd at 9:30AM. If anybody wants to try to do this I would think we would need to call them immediately. Let me know & I will. It looks like Trussville has a parade the same day @ 3PM & the Alabama tourism site lists it as one of the biggest in the state so MBE we should try that one.

Pardon me for chiming in, but I think a magnet with the full club name/website spelled out (as mentioned above in an earlier post) is a really great way to spread the word about your great club! BTW, I LOVE my BAMA tee shirt! It's awesome!

Well you asked, so here goes...
I'm totally against the billboard idea - too expensive and not effective. No bang for the buck. When was the last time you noticed a billboard while driving? Landscape clutter.
I'd be in for magnetic signs we could use for events, but not bumper stickers.
If you want publicity, do something associated with a charity event and alert the media. Maybe the Toys for Tots ride.
JMHO

Maybe we just need to be more aggressive and chase down and pull over anyone not displaying the new magnet/sticker/cling?

I have to agree.

If we do want to make some kind of car magnets, my brother and his wife have a company in Pelham that makes these, I'm sure I could get a discount or group buy or something . Let me know about size and stuff and I can call and see about how much $ we would be looking at.

We could probably so one that is around 2-1/2" - 3" high & 18" (or so) long. Keep in mind I have a vert so I dunno if everything is the same on the boot as is on a hardtop. If we do that size we could rotate the magnet around to 3 places (right of the wings, left of the wings, & below the tag) so we don't have to worry about paint fade

While you are checking bzn by, I wonder how much some door magnet meatballs w/the AL Motoring Society logo would run

I had some door magnets made that ran $25 per door. They were only two colors so that's the reason for the low cost. White vinyl magnets with black vinyl lettering adhered to it.

I'm sure an AL Motoing car this way would be more. Then again, if Jst4fun could make the AL cars in sticky vinyl. You would only need a one color magnet to stick them to. If that can be done. Put me down for a set.

Yeah I guess I could get a sign shop to precut the magnet in a circle & then put a decal on it What is the diameter of most meatballs?

Jst4fun...can you make some decals

I'm not sure if there is a standard size. I took out a tape measure and decided to have mine at 15".

And it looks Great!

The Miata club (CAMS) did a parade in Hoover last December at Patton Creek (I think it was). They have magnetic stickers to identify thier club members for events. I don't have any specifics but I'll try to get in touch with someone in the club.

Would there be a collective desire to ride in a parade? What are some parades and entry deadlines? I have experience terrorizing fellow floats on a motor scooter Homecoming entry from college; I have a little more restraint now.