JKR

Mini

We regularly counsel brands to latch on to what makes them special and different and amplify these qualities. I think the lesson we can draw here is that general rules have exceptions.

Like many other slight young things from the sixties, Mini has filled out somewhat of late. The compact British everyman car is now comparatively bigger, owned by BMW, and arguably less likely to be driven by pop stars and plumbers alike. It now feels like a car with a target audience rather than a nation in mind. Yet for its fans the marque is forgiven all these transitions, demonstrating how elastic ‘brand DNA’ can be.

If the latest Mini has arguably lost much of what made its forebear special and successful, let’s remember that the original went out of production. It's all very well being loved, as the original was, but design also has to sell.

The new version has boldly and un-parochially adapted to become more globally relevant. The brand has been a success in the states, where it’s original dimensions would surely have been considered prohibitively tiny. And its bigger frame carries a generally more robust piece of automotive engineering. The original Mini was a design of purity – truly less was more. But the redesign was realistic and the car’s lines could never lose their essential charm.

The new Mini was an early harbinger of the retro styling we see all around us today. But it pulls a smart trick, looking to the future more than the past in its design, having the best of both worlds.

By Silas Amos, Creative Director, jkr. For the full article, see this week's Marketing magazine.