MINI USA Asks: 'What's Your Carfun Footprint?'

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   New Marketing Approach Highlights MINI's Fun-to-Drive, Fuel-Efficient
      Premium Small Cars and Challenges Consumers to Do More with Less

    WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J., Aug. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- "What's Your Carfun
Footprint?" A new marketing campaign from MINI USA and its agency Butler
Shine Stern & Partners (BSSP) poses this very question and highlights that
driver's don't have to sacrifice fun for fuel efficiency. MINI USA defines
Carfun Footprint as: "A measurement of how much fun your car is versus how
much impact it has on the environment."

    Spreading MINI's philosophy of maximizing fun while minimizing impact,
the new campaign underscores these principles inherent to its brand and
products from the beginning. The Classic Mini, born out of the post-World
War II oil crisis that sent fuel prices soaring in the late-1950s, struck
the perfect balance between fuel efficiency, functionality and fun -- an
approach that's just as relevant now as it was then.

    "For nearly 50 years, MINI owners have enjoyed cars that are at once
fuel-efficient -- up to 37 mpg -- and fun-to-drive. In the face of today's
escalating gasoline costs more people than ever are expressing renewed
interest in the original premium small car," said Jim McDowell, Vice
President, MINI USA. "What they'll find through the new campaign is that
the third-party data validates their choice -- MINI cars outrank all other
makes and models by the Carfun Footprint measure."

    The centerpiece of the campaign is an interactive online application,
the Carfun Footprint Calculator, now launched at
http://www.carfunfootprint.com in early August, which will enable consumers
to input their vehicle makes and models to determine their scores and see
how their vehicles stack up against nearly 200 other models.

    Animation, narration and a good dose of MINI-brand humor bring the
Carfun Footprint Calculator to life -- engaging the consumers, inviting
them to be part of a relevant conversation, and empowering them with the
information they need to minimize their environmental impact -- no matter
what vehicle they drive.

    Carfun Footprint = 50% Fun + 50% Green

    The Carfun Footprint score is derived from a sophisticated formula
incorporating third-party data from Strategic Vision Inc.'s New Vehicle
Experience Study(TM) (NVES), a syndicated study allowing new vehicle owners
to rate their experiences; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Green
Vehicle Guide, which provides environmental scores and standardized test
data for cars and trucks related to emission levels and fuel economy; and
AutoData Corporation's vehicle curb weight data is tapped to estimate
manufacturing impacts.

    Once the Carfun Footprint score has been calculated, consumers may
select more options:

    -- Improve -- recommends the optimal strategy for making significant
strides, driving a 37-mpg MINI Cooper, and provides a link to
http://www.MINIUSA.COM for more information about the cars in MINI's line-up;

    -- Green Motoring Tips -- allows consumers to enter their e-mail
addresses to subscribe to universal tips for lowering environmental impact
regardless of vehicle make or model;

    -- Share -- lets consumers pass the calculator on to friends via e-mail
or through popular social networking web sites; and

    -- MINIMALISM -- directs consumers to http://www.MINIUSA.COM/MINIMALISM.

    MINIMALISM is MINI's global philosophy of "doing more with less." It
encompasses equipping MINI cars with innovative engine technologies and
other improvements that significantly reduce fuel consumption without
compromising fun and designing and engineering for optimum recyclability.

    The Carfun Footprint conversation begins with a print ad which
describes the Carfun Footprint philosophy and sets the tone for the
campaign. The copy opens with "It's Time to Drive Like There is a
Tomorrow," goes on to offer a vision for maximizing driving fun while
minimizing impact, and closes with "It's time to think about our Carfun
Footprint." The ad is slated to appear in August and September issues of
select auto enthusiast and lifestyle publications, such as: Automobile,
Best Life, Car & Driver, ESPN, GOOD, Men's Fitness, Men's Journal, The New
Yorker, Outside and SPIN.

    In a unique collaboration with The New York Times and GOOD magazine,
MINI USA will sponsor a special issue of GOOD to be inserted within a
Sunday Edition of The New York Times this fall. This smaller version of
GOOD, whose editorial mission is to promote those people, places and things
that make a positive difference in the world, will offer a mix of past
features along with original content, and will be distributed to more than
600,000 subscribers and newsstand purchasers in five major markets -- New
York City, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

    Also in August and September, out-of-home marquee billboards and
wallscapes will appear in MINI's five buzz markets to spread the word about
http://www.CarfunFootprint.com, carrying the headlines "Drive Like There is a
Tomorrow" and "More Turn. Less Burn."

    The campaign's Launch print ads that will follow in September, October
and November issues of auto enthusiast and lifestyle magazines,
specifically ask "What's Your Carfun Footprint?" The creative copy goes on
to explain the philosophy, introduce the methodology and point consumers to
CarfunFootprint.com, where they will find the interactive Carfun Footprint
Calculator and can determine their scores. These ads will run in Blender,
European Car, Fast Company, Men's Health, Motor Trend, National Geographic
Adventurer, The New Yorker, Ode, Plenty, Road & Track, Rolling Stone and
SPIN.

    Headline print ads bearing the headlines "Good. Clean. Fun." "Drive
Like There is a Tomorrow." and "More Turn. Less Burn." will run in October
and November issues of AutoWeek, Best Life, Blender, GOOD, Grassroots
Motorsports and Paste. Special Headline ad treatments are scheduled for two
media partner publications. Two vertical, half-page ads -- one reading
"More Turn." and the other, "Less Burn." -- will be placed as bookends to
editorial copy in the October issue of Men's Journal and the September 18th
issue of Rolling Stone.

    For more information, visit: http://www.CarfunFootprint.com or http://www.MINIUSA.COM

    Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners

    BSSP is a full-service marketing communications agency based in
Sausalito, CA. The agency provides services in advertising, online
marketing and web development, brand identity and design, and strategic
brand consulting. One of the largest independent agencies on the West
Coast, BSSP is recognized for its ability to provide highly creative, fully
accountable marketing solutions to a broad array of marketers including
MINI, Priceline.com, Greyhound, LucasArts, Diageo Chateau & Estates, The
Ritz-Carlton Club and Residences, Nike and Take Care Health Systems. The
agency was most recently recognized with two EFFIE awards for its work for
MINI and Converse, as well as two Kelly Awards, including Grand Prize for
its work with MINI.

    MINI in the US

    MINI is an independent brand of the BMW Group. In the United States,
MINI USA operates as a business unit of BMW of North America, LLC which has
been present in the United States since 1975. Rolls-Royce Motor Cars NA,
LLC began distributing vehicles in 2003. The BMW Group in the United States
has grown to include marketing, sales, and financial service organizations
for the BMW brand of motor vehicles, including motorcycles, the MINI brand,
and the Rolls-Royce brand of Motor Cars; DesignworksUSA, an industrial
design firm in California; a technology office in Silicon Valley and
various other operations throughout the country. BMW Manufacturing Co., LLC
in South Carolina is part of BMW Group's global manufacturing network and
is the exclusive manufacturing plant for all Z4 models, X5 Sports Activity
Vehicles and X6 Sport Activity Coupes. The BMW Group sales organization is
represented in the U.S. through networks of 338 BMW passenger car centers,
335 BMW Sports Activity Vehicle centers, 142 BMW motorcycle retailers, 82
MINI passenger car dealers, and 30 Rolls-Royce Motor Car dealers. BMW (US)
Holding Corp., the BMW Group's sales headquarters for North, Central and
South America, is located in Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey.




    Information about BMW Group products is available to consumers via the
Internet at:

     http://www.bmwgroupna.com
     http://www.bmwusa.com
     http://www.bmwmotorcycles.com
     http://www.miniusa.com
     http://www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com

Source:  PR Newswire  

Article Date: Aug 26, 2008
Car Accociations: NEW_MINI
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