New Clubman Videos Maybe the Best Thing MINI Marketing has Done in Years
Ok that’s maybe a bit aggressive. But there’s simply something about letting the creators of a car like the Clubman speak about what they have designed, engineered and built. It also serves the Clubman well as MINI’s most premium product yet. They are compelling and depth to a product is hard to grasp unless you go hands-on with it.
You can find al 7 videos in the playlist above (just hit play to view all of them) or individually below. So grab your favorite beverage, sit back and get to know the new Clubman. And if you’re curious, we’re 12 hours into Clubman “ownership” ourselves at MotoringFile. Look for much more on MINI’s latest four door in shortly.
<p>I am sorry but these totally remind me of something out of Portlandia, except they are not tongue in cheek. I don’t like this serious direction of MINI that reminds me of my “cool uncle”</p>
<p>There is a real estate agent in NY that does this right … <a href="https://youtu.be/75kRHMJAVWg" rel="nofollow ugc">https://youtu.be/75kRHMJAVWg</a></p>
<p>I love my new Golf Sportwagen however I miss my Clubman. I would have gotten into one of these in a hearbeat however since it just launched there weren’t any really good lease programs available. I will definitely look at these when my lease is up.</p>
<p>This is BMW Group marketing in overdrive, and indeed at its best. They are blatantly replicating the approach, style and message they used for the Rolls-Royce New Wraith launch videos, only “cooled” down to a “hipster” level, mimicking conversations that you would find in a designer/maker class in an arts uni. But it’s fake, it comes across as phoney – Aurel is right, Portlandia! – and the scripted seriousness of it, ideally epitomised by Anders Warming, the man who never smiles, takes the lightheartedness out of BMW’s New Mini. Using the hipsterific vocabulary you can find in Wallpaper/Monocle-type output for essentially selling a mass-produced car as “hand-built”, “craftmanned” is just taking the piss. There should have been two more videos, where the supplier pitch their components to the project leads, and then another where the accountants negotiate the quality/cost mix with the suppliers – but the brutality of those videos would not be brand-conform, I guess.</p>
<p>Also: lots of men… Bavarian sausage fest… No female project stream leader? No person of a non-white background? In fact zero “Britishness” – it really is a German affair now. Well, the Union Flag stickers and stitch-ins on the car compensate for that.</p>
<p>But of course this campaign will work, people will buy into it, and the cycle continues. ;-)</p>
<p>Agree to disagree? Someone at MINI’s taking guys like Scott Galloway too literally.</p>
<p>MINI’s most effective marketing has always been when the company communicates a cohesive message about the brand experience, not when it over-indexes on a single model.</p>
<p>I do not want to be that uncle.</p>
<p>As others here have pointed out, passion can too easily cross the line into parody when the message becomes too concentrated and the production value appears cliched.</p>
<p>No need to cram the message in the boot.</p>
<p>“You do get the point that the G2 Clubman is so very <em>premium</em>, don’t you?” Yes I do, I can see that in the product.</p>
<p>“Luxury’s something we want you to experience everyday–” Um, thanks, but…</p>
<p>“Did you further know that MINI, as a brand, has <em>matured</em>?” Again, yes, I can see it in the lineup.</p>
<p>“We underscore these points with staged design meetings and closeups of hand gestures to drive these points home.” Yes, you’ve clearly spent a lot of time on the Clubman’s story, but do you think I could take that test drive?</p>