Expect it To Sell

A couple of teaser screen-grabs from a video teasing the new MINI coupe and convertible. The styling is faithful to the original, but infinitely cooler. Must be nice to work on this account. Unveiling soon at the Frankfurt Motor Show.


Seen at AdRants.

Is it Raygun Gothic or Streamline Moderne?

Does it matter? It's cool, that's all I know.


New readers may not remember the Design Within Reach Airstream I posted about long ago, but I've found a blog by a couple who own one. I think they are tired of their Airstream. I think they want to give me their Airstream. (Jedi mind trick.)

Meet Martin and Kate. He's a Mac computer consultant, website/blog designer and digital photographer. She's a writer, website/blog designer and SEO/marketing specialist. (Don't hold it against Mrs. Thomas that she dabbles in the SEO magic, but there is a recovery program for that I'd recommend.) Kate and Martin make their home in Minneapolis, "Where the Beer is Warm and the People are Warmer." OK, that's not really Minneapolis' slogan. Hold please while I look that up.....(hold music)...thank you for waiting...(hold music)...Well, the CVB wants you to "Meet Minneapolis" while the official city website greets visitors with "Minneapolis: A Premier Destination." I'd go with my suggestion, City Fathers (and Mothers).

As more and more of us get kicked out of our homes, this cool little trailer may be the way to go.

Incidentally, Mini is trying to get in on the Airstream act with this completely dysfunctional model that has been gutted by some furniture designer who wears black every day and always crosses his legs in that weird way while saying "ummmmhmmmmm" and never smiling, his hand on his chin. His Airstream for Mini is now just a giant living room, no bath, bed or galley. Stylish. And lame.


The happy couple from Minnesota with the awesome trailer took it for a long haul back in March. They need to post more often.

Butler Shines

One of the cooler ads I've seen in a while, a 70s styled iron-on transfer in this ad for MINI by Butler, Shine, Stern and Partners (found in Rolling Stone) featuring Hammer & Coop, Butler's tongue-in-cheek 70s styled detective guy and his British-accented MINI.

And who is cooler than Hammer in that tongue-in-cheek retro kinda way? Only the Shat. So the Shat get's the shirt.

Previously in Hammer & Coop

Previously in British Accents

Previously in Shatner

I Got Suckered - and It Was Good

As a practitioner of the Black Arts of Advertising and Marketing, I like to consider myself immune to most tricks of the trade. I like to think my cynicism makes me smarter than the art directors and copywriters out to make me laugh and make me buy. Occasionally, I get blindsided.

So I'm flipping through the pages of my new Rolling Stone (great cover story on Parker and Stone of South Park) and I get to the last few pages where they stick all the ads, and I say to myself, "Ha! Someone seriously screwed up at press time. All these pages got printed upside down." Couple seconds later I realize, still viewing the pages upside down, that every one one of them features a MINI Cooper.

Brilliant execution by Butler, Shine, Stern and Partners on this flip issue, called Really Hot Metal Magazine. Each page (8 in all + the cover) is witty and fun, featuring the Starsky & Hutch fashioned "Hammer" character and his sidekick, Coop, a talking car. The whole Hammer & Coop campaign has been ridiculed by industry wags. David Kiley, writing at Yahoo!, said "The problem for me is that the homage to the 1970s-early '80s TV action shows is too ham-fisted. It tries to be funny, like a weak Saturday Night Live sketch that goes on too long. The British voice inside the MINI is especially unfunny and unengaging. He says "bloke" and "bloody" a lot. But the writing in the serials is awful."

Maybe the webisodes are a little stupid, but nothing is as unfunny as SNL these days, Mr. Kiley. (Lorne Michaels - please retire.) Agreed on the British voice. But I can tell you, the print stuff works. More flip issues are reportedly coming to MAXIM, Stuff, and Blender. I'm guessing MINI is targeting men's magazines with a parody of a 1970s action hero to counter the widely held perception that the Cooper is a chick car.