Or counterfeit MINIs for auction? It would appear our favorite car company has struck again with another website to fan the flames of the counterfeit MINI phenomenon. A quick check of the registration info for both sites indicate they were registered under the same Manhattan phone number and have similar Miami Beach addresses.
But regardless of who created and registered what I think the big take-away from all this is… think twice before buying a MINI with t-tops.
[ MINIs4Auction ]
<p>Check out the Sell your MINI section.</p>
<p>Usually I think the MINI ad campaigns are brilliant, but this whole Counterfeit MINI campaign just doesn’t do it for me. I think it’s a big misstep. How does this campaign advance the brand? The car speaks for itself — there’s no need to oversell the MINI Cooper’s uniqueness.</p>
<p>Paging Mr. Stan Freberg. Paging Mr. Stan Freberg…Mini has made another misstep we need you to straighten these fools out. Hey maybe we could get Professor Tom Leher to write a misstep rag like his vatican Rag.</p>
<p>Was one of those David Rose’ car? Oops I guess not.</p>
<p>+++RB</p>
<p>I was lucky enough to be a minor player in the development of “The Beast”, the fiendishly elaborate web-based mystery game from a few years back, and I love these alternate reality websites, when done right. MINI is certainly not going to be as multi-leveled or as richly devious, but they’ve got the right idea, and they’ve got their story and they’re stickin’ to it. I love the plug-ugly pseudo-MINIs! This isn’t quite brilliant, but it’s very well done. </p>
<pre><code> BCNU,
Rob in Dago
</code></pre>
<p>I think it’s perfect. Much better than the that whole hot rod campaign with that ugly Garbage Pail Kids aesthetic. Granted that campaign accomplished their goal of keeping their car from being a “chick car”, but they could do the same without being so, um, butch. It’s a cute car and MINIUSA kid of overcompensates sometimes. </p>
<p>At any rate, I love the faux MINIS. They look like a do it yourself <em>Pimp My Ride</em> episode gone wrong.</p>
<p>Anyone who’s ever studied branding would know that a campaign like this reinforces the iconic appearance of the car itself. The MINI brand isn’t the name, it’s the basic appearance of the car. The campaign is two-fold, first it says, in a cheeky way that’s in step with everything else they’ve done that MINI is so desirable that people would go to desparate lengths to at least seem like they’re a part of it. And secondly, it’s using the trademark features in a clever way to illustrate how nothing is the same as the real thing.</p>
<p>Of course the genius of it is that it does all of that without being overt about it. With the success of the MINI other car makers will release their ripoff versions to try to cyphon away the market. What better way to convey that nothing compares to the one-and-only than this clever campaign?</p>
<p>I absolutely agree. This is simply another brilliant campaign by Crispin Porter & Bogusky.</p>
<p>I signed up to be notified of “new auctions” and got an email from the CCC saying they intercepted a transmission from mini4auctions.com:</p>
<blockquote>
From: <strong><a href="mailto:Notifications@counterfeitmini.org">Notifications@counterfeitmini.org</a></strong>
Subject: <strong>Some bad news about MINI4Auction.com</strong>
Recently you visited MINI4auction.com and requested to be notified of any upcoming auctions. Unfortunately, we at the Counter Counterfeit Commission have some bad news for you. The auction on MINI4auction.com are almost entirely made up of counterfeit MINI Coopers. This may be hard to believe based on the photos, but it’s true. They’re fakes.
MINI4auction was trying to send you an email to notify you of an upcoming auction. Luckily, our Tech Ops department was able to intercept it in time. We don’t even want to think about what might have happened otherwise.
Rest assured, you’re safe now. To learn more about motoring fraud and to protect yourself from counterfeit MINI Coopers, visit counterfeitmini.org
Stay genuine.
Sincerely,
Matt Bonin
Director
Counter Counterfeit Commission
</blockquote>
<p>Ouch. Apparently the formatting options for comments have changed here on MF. :-)</p>
<p>I figured you meant to do that. Looks great to me!</p>
<p>Personally, I think this is just advertising masturbation by Crispin Porter. The MINI would sell just as well without this campaign. The MINI Cooper is unlike any other car on the market, and all it takes is a simple glance to ascertain that. There is absolutely no need to waste money underscoring that fact with tongue-in-cheek “fake reality” ads. Everyone already knows the MINI is a “hot” car.</p>
<p>All they really need to do is SHOW THE CAR and unfortunately they fail to do this.</p>
<p>By contrast, the original MINI television ads were right on the mark. They were cheeky, they perfectly set the tone of the brand, and made sure to show the car being the badass it is. I think as more mainstream folks buy MINIs, the brand starts to become suceptible to losing its core image, the same way the New Beetle has become homogenized and bland over time. It is important to reinforce that original branding tone — the British, witty, and irreverant tone.</p>
<p>The primary goal of a campaign like this isn’t to sell more cars, it’s to reinforce the strength of the brand (which in turn sells more cars in the long run).</p>
<p>When the car launched, they had to show the car often to establish the brand. Now, in a non-product oriented campaign like this one, the viewer takes what they already know about MINI and come to their own conclusion–multiple times on each website–about the many reasons why MINI is special and unique.</p>
<p>It creates a much longer lasting impression for someone to reach that point through their own thinking then it does if it is something they’re simply told.</p>
<p>None of those sites come out and say it’s obsurd that someone could mistake a MINI for those cars. Instead they play it straight so that the viewer decides that the MINI is so special and different that it’s silly to compare it. The intended audience is familiar with MINI but probably never put much further thought into the brand. They may have never taken the time to think about how unique the brand is, and this campaign forces them to do that.</p>
<p>A few years into establishing the brand, I think it’s a smart and logical progression. </p>
<p>It’s not for everyone, but I doubt it would ever be the primary campaign anyway. It’s targeted at a very specific audience and I think it does well addressing that audience. </p>
<p>Ouch, another counterfeit has been unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show.
<a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.automotorundsport.de/sixcms/media.php/23/01_450.81546.jpg">Have a look</a></p>
<p>Philip</p>
<p>Looks like yet <a rel="nofollow" haref="https://www.motoringfile.com/2004/01/29/the_chevy_mini_errr_nomad">another</a> counterfit has been spotted…</p>