Today, I received mail from MINI in my USPS box. It was an 8.5"x11" sheet of stickers to share with other MINI owners when you spot their cars. This is the sort of 'culture' MINI marketed back 10 years ago. Owning a MINI was fun and the marketing was whimsical and promoted MINI enthusiasm. Seems like the last few years the marketing went mainstream and did not uphold the 'brand,' in my opinion. Is this a sign of a return to what worked when MINI Owners were enthusiasts and ambassadors for the brand?

I have marketing materials from my first MINI purchase that are very fun. A box that came with my first MINI (I am on number 6 now) that included stickers, window clings, instructions done in a fun cartoon including information like how fast you have to drive to keep rain out of an open convertible. It also had some games and such. MINI Commercials included races through sewer pipes and fun comedic themes. Lately, they have been a bot more traditional like Hyndai and Honda. I know they were targeting the general public over the enthusiast, but MINIs are an enthusiast car. I think it backfired on them. Many MINI owners I meet are now just owners. They have no excitement and think it's weird to park next to them because we both have MINIs. The 'community' has suffered. Several former owners I know moved to other cars that have strong communities built around them.

I hope this is just the beginning of a return to the whimsical marketing that defined the MINI brand through the early 2000s.

 

Excellent post.

I totally agree with your summary that they sort of lost the plot, so I'm very glad to see them getting cheeky again.

A return of the whimsical fun stuff was much needed, as well as concentrating on the 'community' aspect you speak of, like back in August they ran a WTF Day campaign, "wave to friends", and simple little things like that go a long way in my opinion.


Just now after reading your post I went looking to see recent advertising and found this Christmas-themed advert that features footage from actual owners, a good sign to see MINI actively engage with their base and promote the 'connective tissue' which bonds us all together...

...as of right now that video on yootoob,
uploaded on Dec. 15th,
has over 9 million views!


"Chris Rea never intended to write a Christmas hit, and so the song was never released as a single, and there was no music video produced for it. Which is a shame because we think the song this good deserves a music video, and its connection to MINI meant that we wanted to give it one. So, we asked you, the MINI community to help us create a music video, a fitting tribute to one of the all-time Christmas songs, all with Chris’ blessing."

https://www.mini.com/en_MS/home/mini...ivinghome.html

 

Back in the day they had some cool stuff, glad to see things are moving again. I knew and met both the older marketing team before BSSP and newer people over the years.

 

Still trying to keep the spirit alive. We always wave and we have a two MINI garage.
My co-pilot/navigator's is a '15 R60.
(Can't quite get behind WTF / Whisky Tango Foxtrot. It has a whole different below decks meaning for me.)

 

The Gen 1 cars were so well received and were really fun cars ( but not more fun than today's cars). The debacle of the terrible R56Ss just ruined the whole party. The F series are wonderful cars that handle and accerate incredibly well.
When gas prices fell in the US, small cars fell out of favor. Add that to the horrible reputation of the R56 cars and that caused a significant decline in MINI enthusiasts and MINI clubs.Hopefully, after years of reports of the high quality of the "F" cars, the MINI community will grow again.

 

Very warming youtube video.
Although I still wave. With no reciprocal response seems almost pointless these days - but **** 'em. If they don't get it. There is nothing better than being behind the wheel of an R53 .
Those sad sacks should just give up the thrill, give up their Mini's, join the mundane and drive a Toyota Tercel.

 

I'd rather have the first gen vision back in focus without the cutesy ads, than the cutesy ads with the current, bloated lineup.

 

Received my playful marketing box a few weeks ago and threw it straight to recycle bin. Being a printer I was disgusted at the quality MINI used for the advertisement. It was so cheap, a real disappointment, I mean really why even bother.
At least you got stickers, mine was a plain piece of black and white cardstock, perforated.

 

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