Mini Dream Team

Notes taken at meeting on Wednesday 28th November 2012
14:00 - 17:30


What do we want to do?

What are they missing?

What makes the mini consumer tick?

AIM:
We want to make the Mini lifestyle range more accessible and desirable. We want it to be an aspirational buy, creating brand loyalty, brand ambassadors (/lovers), brand awareness resulting in consumers eventually making a bigger investment by entering a dealership and purchasing a Mini. 

How are we going to achieve this?
> personalisation
> making shopping an experience
> product expansion
> move out onto the hightstreet and link it with the dealership, interaction between the high street store and dealership
> space squatting (pop up stores, maybe before a fully functioning store is set up)

Pop up stores/High street stores
Art installations/ galleries/museums
Window displays
Events
Fashion films
Theatre design/ concerts/ live installations
Collaborations
Having a high street store will bring the brand/sub brand forward, into a new market. The fashion/lifestyle market. 
We think that the products are lost within a car dealership environment, they're lost, have no purpose there, are pushed into a corner and not spoken about. They're an afterthought to the salesmen.
Unsurprising as they're not particularly desirable products anyway. 
CASE STUDIES: Hollister, A&F (experience when shopping)

Product expansion 
Collaborations - British design, to keep it British, timeless, statement pieces, not so trend driven, classic pieces, good quality, just a few REALLY good pieces.
Environmentally friendly.How people oare becoming more conscious. Brands need to be setting the example for consumers to follow. Make better choices available. If they're not there, the conusmer won't buy it if it isn't there. 
Suits the current, diverse consumer range
Competitors - someone who already is quite British. A British brand. Independent niche labels. Not high street brands.
Menswear - independent timeless pieces, transeasonal 
Invest in one piece (recession blah blah blah)
Authenticity - made or done in an original, traditional way, true or real. (is the a trend in itself?)
Mini only does one product range in a year - we need at least two to be taken seriously in the fashion world. 
CASE STUDIES: Hollister, A&F (types of product), Topshop collaborating with Mary Katranzou 

Personalisation - HOW DO WE IMPLEMENT THIS?
How people want things to be unique, customisable, indivual
Limited addition
Tailored
Sentimental value (*marketing* - telling a story)

Making a shopping experience
Consumer journey - take the consumer through the store as they would travel through a website, like an exhibition, so they're not bombarded by everything at the same time (need to research how consumers shop)
Link between the high street store and the dealership
Something new, not done before in this country: CASE STUDY, SHANGHAI - car dealerships within shopping centres. Why should they not be included?
The death of the flagship - we believe that all stores should be the same/very similar, customers are unfairly disadvantaged if they happen to live in Liverpool and a flagship store is in London

Space squatting (pop up stores, maybe before a fully functioning store is set up) 
Look into using retail spaces that are closed from 5pm, to open up a new evening shopping market
Holly's research to expand on this