You can’t fault BMW – and by extension, MINI – for coming up with unique ways to promote their brand.
The two car brands are scheduled to release a host of BMW and MINI accessories just in time for the holiday season. Two products that are poised to hit the shelves are a pair of BMW and MINI licensed Bluetooth headsets.
Both headsets, which feature the two companies’ logos on the rhomboid-shaped ear element fitting, are compatible with any kind of mobile phone and we’ll venture to make a guess that having one clipped on your ear will surely spike up your class points.
According to BMW, the Bluetooth headsets are light as a feather, weighing it at only eight grams. They also come with a pair of rechargeable batteries encased on the headsets and when the time comes that it needs recharging, a special adapter that’s connected to your car’s power socket makes recharging these headsets easy and accessible to do.
Each headset also allows for a up to five hours of continuous use and idle time can hold for as long as a whole week. BMW has yet to release the prices for their Blueetooth headsets and will only do so when it nears the launch date sometime in December.
When it comes to kooky advertising and off-the-wall marketing campaigns, few car brands can hold a candle to MINI.
By now, it’s no secret that MINI has spent the entire year coming up with some pretty zany, funny and not to mention, creepy ads so it’s a fair assumption to say that wouldn’t expect anything less from them.
Their latest commercial is no different from all the other ads MINI has released this year: it’s downright hilarious.
Suffice to say, when a girl tells you to bring ‘protection’, you’d be an idiot – or in this case, a dork – to misinterpret her not-so-subtle hints. Enjoy the video and get a good laugh out of it.
Now, it seems that a BMW-Rolls partnership is something that we wouldn’t have thought of, but these guys have proven time and again that nothing is impossible for them.
According to Autocar, the ‘Rolls Mini’ is likely to come with added features unique to itself, including the commission of genuine coachbuilt features such as new interior fittings.
Details behind the partnership have yet to be released but sources have said the program will be announced sometime in the next year. If we can use history as a precedent, we can go back to the 60’s when bespoke coachbuilt MINIs became such a hot item, a number of celebrities like Peter Sellers and the Beatles commissioned tuners to make them luxury MINIs that had high-spec wood and leather-trimmed interior.
MINI has never been one to turn a marketing opportunity into something tangible, and their latest creation, the ‘Wash Me’ book, fits all of it to a tee. Inspired by the seemingly mundane everyday scenario of cars with ‘Wash Me’ scribbled along fogged and/or dirty windows, the book features a collection of works from ten artists that took their own rendition of depicting a wide range of MINI cars with ‘Wash Me’ creatively scribbled in and around them.
Among the artist that were invited to participate in the project include Smash137, Fabian Bertschinger, Marisa Pichler and Gigi Burn, Tika, Euro, Aurèle Sack, Stefan Ege and Seak, August, Rémi Jaccard and, last but not least Dieter Meier, also famous as the singer in the band Yello.
The ‘Wash Me’ book is the latest in a long line of unconventional projects undertaken by MINI and it seems that this year – more than any other in recent time since the brand is celebrating its 50th year – MINI has been involved in some pretty zany projects with this one being their latest offering.
Power can come in many shapes and sizes, ranging from naturally aspirated American big block V8 to high revving boosted sport compact four cylinder engines. Although it can be a bit more of a challenge to squeeze every last bit of potential out of limited displacement power plants, that didn’t stop this team of Mini Cooper tuners who brought their creation to the 2009 SEMA Show. If you were ever wondering what a 750 HP Mini looks like, well here it is; and all it takes is an upgraded turbocharger, larger diameter piping, custom manifolds and as much go juice as possible being squirted into each of the four combustion chambers. So what do you do with a 750 HP Mini Cooper wearing a set of drag slicks, aside from anything you want, 10 second quarter mile passes sound about right.
If there’s one car brand that’s had its fair share of uniquely-designed models, the first one that always comes to mind is MINI. For the most part, the company hasn’t been shy in releasing special-edition models that are, for lack of a better term, eye-catching.
This particular MINI fits that bill to a tee. Created by KRINK founder and graffiti-design savant, Craig “KR” Costello, who, by the way, travelled all the way to the MINI headquarters in Hamburg, Germany, what used to be a simple black MINI was transformed into a fine work of art.
At first glance, you might notice that Costello’s work is nothing more than just dumping a bucket of white paint and letting it drip out on all sides. But upon closer inspection, you’ll notice that the design is more intricate and deliberate than what you probably first thought.
Using the Krink silver paint color that has long been Costello’s trademark, the New York-based artist left no stone unturned in his elaborate design. Suffice to say, it’s not as outlandish as some MINI designs we’ve seen over the years, but nevertheless, it still looks pretty impressive, especially the whole white/black color-balancing effect.
The classic English automaker Mini had a plethora of Coopers on display at the 2009 Miami Auto Show, in a setup that resembled a bag of Skittles, there was something to satisfy every new car buyer’s taste. Ranging from a gleaming white Camden model to a black rag top and a British Racing Green John Cooper Works complete with Union Jacks on the mirror covers; there was literally a Mini for every flavor. Mini also showed off a bit of their fun side reminiscing about a lighter side in America’s history filled with beach bums and go go girls with a pair of surfboards on top of a woodie wagon inspired Clubman.
Mini has released a pretty cool commercial that teaches us how to recognize a Mini driver! Apparently, according to the company at least, a Mini driver is characterized by a mixture of life, individuality and spontaneity. And of course his pet!
Calling it the Minimalism Calendar, Mini held a contest a few months ago for artists to submit their best minimalist artworks with the clause that submissions would need to have a silhouette of the car in the artwork. Out of the thousands that sent in their works, the lucky 12 that were chosen by a team of judges led by Gert Hilderbrand, the car brand’s head designer, had their masterpieces included in the Minimalist Calendar.
So if you’re a Mini enthusiast who just can’t seem to get enough of these lovable cars, the 2010 Minimalist Calendar can keep you company for a full year all for a fairly reasonable price tag of €21 – that’s around $30 in the US.
When you’re as established a car brand as MINI is, you can afford to make up your own figment-of-the-imagination holidays.
That being said, MINI has officially kicked off the third annual Motor-Tober celebration. The month-long holiday celebrates, among other things, horsepower, go-kart handling, great car buys, and of course, celebrating because…well, we can.
Comedic marketing nothwisthanding, MINI goes all-out for the Motor-Tober (get it? Motor-[Oc]Tober) celebration by unfurling a series of funny and amusing ads, as well as promoting the joy that is driving a MINI.
According to Jim McDowell, Vice President of MINI USA, “MINI wants to celebrate the ramp-up to the winter holiday season, which is usually a stressful time, and make it a time to thoroughly enjoy motoring.”
“Nothing says exhilaration like getting behind the wheel of a MINI, and our Motor-Tober celebration encourages customers to do just that,” he adds.
As part of the celebration, MINI will offer its prospective buyers a 1.9% financing – valid until November 2 - that runs up to 60 months if said buyer was to purchase a 2009 MINI. Moreover, the brand will also drop their lease rates to $259 per month for a select number of 2009 MINIs.
We all like holidays, legitimate or otherwise. So if MINI wants to give Oktoberfest a run for its money with Motor-Tober, then we’re all for it. As they say, you can never have enough things to celebrate about. Let the good times roll!
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