According to Wikipedia, branding seeks to develop or align the expectations behind the brand experience, creating the impression that a brand associated with a product or service has certain qualities or characteristics that make it special or unique.

In our experience, MINI is a superb practitioner of this. Every interaction we’ve had with them has been classy, fun, and has had a very personal touch. Buying a MINI is not just acquiring a cute little car, it’s joining a community with its own benefits, culture and rewards.

Today, we got a package from MINI. Ostensibly, it was to send us roadside assistance cards and some finance information. But in the package was:

• A personalized note from MINI
• A pen, journal and rubber band – all MINI branded
• Mousepad with lots of red MINIs and checkered flags
• A static cling window poetry kit
• Little metallic gold body decals
• Dice antenna topper

Inside the box was a flap. Printed on it was “Nothing behind this flap. Zip, nada, zilch.” When we, of course, looked behind the flap there was an envelope marked top secret. It contained a MINI decoder template, a decoder prism and 3-d glasses. Apparently the decoder template can be held over a MINI ad for a secret message.

It probably didn’t cost much to put together and send, but the thinking that goes into their branding and marketing is amazing. Even more so, they’re not trying to gain our business – they already won it, months ago – they just want to ensure our brand loyalty years down the line.

The extended family-like feeling and superb customer follow-through make owning a MINI fun. If we weren’t already thrilled to bits with our car, it would certainly make us consider buying another one from the same company if we ever replace the one we have.

Plus, in this extended club drivers wave to each other. Random acts of friendliness are a major bonus. ☺

We joined some great people from the Puget Sound MINI club today for our first-ever MINI event. The group drove to Shelton, for a casino buffet breakfast, then hit the back roads of the south Sound area.

Ron mapped out a twisty, windy, beautiful drive. We stopped at two state parks - the below pictures were at Kopachuk & Twanoh State Parks, respectively.

After the cruise, Bryan and I drove by my sister’s home to visit Maggie-the-MINI’s cousin, Pumpkin the vintage VW convertible. The old-and-new picture is great - Pumpkin is a fun little car.

It was a top-down, beautiful spring day. In spite of my hat and SPF-30 sunscreen, I now have a slight sunglasses sunburn. I look forward to many more events with this group!

I wrote awhile back about ordering a MINI (yes, the all caps is correct, to distinguish the new MINIs from the older versions, I’m told), and last weekend we picked it up, and I’ve been driving “Maggie” (the first car I’ve ever named, by the way) all this week. I’m in love with a car.

I’m not a car junkie guy. My folks (correctly, in my estimation) made sure I knew how to change oil, fill fluids, change a tire, etc., but I don’t get any kick out of working on them. My car choices to date have been pretty pedestrian (Chevy Beretta, Dodge Intrepid, Ford Taurus, etc.)

I knew the Taurus was going to graduate to be the boys’ car, and I knew I wanted something that got good gas mileage. The Ford F-150 Crew Cab we bought a couple of years ago and rarely used didn’t fit the bill, and ended up being the trade in bait. We would need the Toyota Mini Van for all of us to be in and for road trip, but I didn’t want to commute in it.

At some point, and I don’t know really why, I became intrigued by MINIs. Not because of The Italian Job either…I didn’t see it until after I’d ordered this car. Maybe Austin Powers. So, as noted in the earlier article, I drove MINIs a couple of times, and ordered one a couple of days after Christmas. (Heavy Irony Note: We ordered some furniture from a well-known brand name furniture store in November. It still isn’t here. Our car, built in Oxford, England, came in less than two months. Sheesh.)

Since I ordered Maggie, I was able to enter the order number onto MINI’s website and follow her progress as she was being built. Very cool. I also heard periodically from the dealership, Northwest Mini in Tacoma about the car’s progress.

Now, a word about the dealership and our contact (:::ahem::: “Motoring Advisor”, I’ll have you know, thank you very much) there, Jay Hammon. Best. Car. Buying. Experience. Ever. And honestly, I’ve had some good ones, because most of the time on the bad ones, I walk out. Jay was super nice and super patient and super accommodating. They made the whole thing easy. No BS, no silly dickering, no “what will it take to get you into this car today”. It was like “Hey, we have a pretty cool product. Drive one, if you like it, we’ll hook you up with the one you want, the way you want it. Have a Coke, too.” They gave us more than book for the truck. We never even dickered a bit there. It was a nice truck, and they played fair. How cool is that?

They made the whole buying and financing thing easy. They sent me the forms in advance, I filled them out, and we had our deal in about 15 minutes from when I handed them to Jay. Diane Steeves, the finance manager, was so nice I was stunned. Usually at that stage they are trying to up sell you to death, and act like you’re a moron if you don’t buy every little warranty. They had some deals, they were decent, and we said we’d think about it. Finis. Not a problem, no pressure, lots of laughing, and we were treated like sensical adults, for gosh sakes. Sign the papers, here’s your keys. Nice.

Jay spent a good deal of time showing us how to use the car, especially to convertible top and radio, stuff I could have figured out eventually from the manuals, but this was much easier. Easy to read manuals, though. Oh, and here’s a nice new small road atlas. Here’s a book showing all of our dealerships, where your warranty is good. We have to work on the car more than 3 hours, we give you car to use. You come in for an oil change, we’ll drive you to the mall. We pay for the oil change for 3 years too. And brakes. And wiper blades.

Like I said. Best. Ever.

Now about the car. MINIs are special. They’re quirky. They’re cute. They’re designed by Germans (BMW, specifically) with British style. The car is well thought out. The controls are in reach and make sense. The top works great, and you can retract it with the key fob. It will retract partway to be a moon roof.

The front is comfortable for two. The back seat is a joke, but you know what, Jeri and I went to Costco today in the MINI, and loaded it all up ok. I could even see out the back.

I got a manual, and it works fine. I like manual transmissions on small cars, it adds an extra dimension of fun. This one shifts easy and has plenty of zip for a small four cylinder. It’s easy to turn and park because of the size. I’ve driven it 300 miles…there’s still a little less than 1/2 a tank left.

The radio is a Harmon Kardon, and is very nice. I added an Ipod connector, and while it isn’t as functional as I’d hoped, it is nice and it charges the Ipod as well.

Overall, it is a kick to drive and I look forward to driving her every day. So, I’m officially hooked to a car. If you’re thinking about an economy car, MINIs are well worth a look.

I’ve never been a huge car person. I like them. I enjoy long drives, even, but I’m no Speed Racer. I’ve never liked to work on them, though my parents (correctly, in my view) insisted that I learn enough to take care of one when I was a younger.

At some point in the last couple of years, I sort of had a thing about Mini Coopers. In spite of my big size, and the (obvious) smallness of the make, I wondered what they’d be like to drive. We even stopped by the Mini dealer here in the Seattle area, and I took a quick spin in one. Fun. Very fun, and very cool. “Someday,” I thought. I went to miniusa.com and built one, for fun too.

Then of course, quite recently, I blogged about how silly commercials showing folks getting cars for Christmas are. Get real, I said.

So then Jeri surprised me with a Mini. Well, a model Mini, a keychain for a Mini, and an appointment with the dealer to order it.

So the picture above what it’ll look like; yes, its a convertible. They are a kick in the pants to drive (I’m getting a manual 5-speed), very low to the ground but sturdy. Nice and roomy in the front, but the back “seat” is a joke, and pretty much an admitted one. they get great reviews, hold their value well, and get super good gas mileage…not like a hybrid, but very good. It has a nice package of options, including a very nice stereo system my Ipod will hook to.

Anyway, I’m psyched, and I’ve been showing off the pics and the model at the office enough that I’m sure everyone hates me now.

Here’s another pic of one that’s pretty close to the one I’ll be getting that was at the dealership. Mine gets here in March.

So here’s to my wonderful wife for having us do something fun and getting the Mini for me. This one might also get something I haven’t done to a car…give it a name. Any suggestions?

It’s been a very strange week.

This weekend we test drove cars and looked at furniture. Yes, Virginia, Ikea on a Saturday afternoon is a truly bad idea. Why the heck do folks seem to stage family reunions there? We didn’t actually buy anything yet… just thinking.

Then Monday we had the storm. My phone service flickered on and off mid-morning, otherwise, it was fairly uneventful here in the Kitsap. Of course, we never will seriously lose power again, we prevented that by investing in a generator and inside wiring! Bryan-the-tough-guy went in to Seattle to work, and even went to watch the Seahawks play Monday night. They won! Maybe it’s the start of a trend.

This morning my car was covered in a thin shell of ice, the first frost for these parts. Ugh! I didn’t even know where the ice scraper was, and credit card scraping was not cutting it. I barely made it to the ferry.

Bryan woke up w/ chills, fever, other symptoms. He was sick, and waiting in line at the doctor’s office by 8:30am. They handed him a big bottle of antibiotics and sent him back to bed, with a follow-up at a specialist tomorrow. He’s feverish and groggy, hopefully he’ll improve soon.

So tomorrow I take Bryan to one end of the county for that doctor’s visit, and then Zach to the other end of the county for a previously schedule doctor’s appointment, and worry about timing throughout. I took the day off work, there is no way I can be checking emails and answering my cell phone while driving like a madwoman through Kitsap construction traffic.

Meanwhile, I’ve been writing. I didn’t get much down this weekend, I was a little stuck - a bit of perfect draft syndrome, I think. I didn’t like a turn my story had taken and didn’t know how to get it back on track. Basically, I had forgotten… I’m not in this to write a masterpiece! Or even a good story. Just a 50,000 word semi coherent story that “would not make someone vomit”. So, after an expectation reset, I’m back to the grindstone.

With that freedom, my characters have gotten… wiggly. Shane has been taking canoeing lessons and shyly romancing a local belle. His mom Holly revealed to me that she was an animal rescue worker after Hurricane Katrina, plus, her latest travails have made her start biting her nails.

This is all good. My characters need more life! Hopefully they’re still planning on ending up at the same end point I’ve been aiming for.

NaNoWriMo word count: 23,572 - only slightly above target for this point in the 30-day cycle.