MINI collectibles

A while ago (thanks Jordan!) I learned of a special edition book available at the UK Motorshow – and I managed to get hold of a copy (thanks Alex!):

The book is beautifully put together, all glossy except for some deliberate “sketch paper” style sheets at the back for Hands On and Part Matrix (I didn’t want to bend the spine too hard, which is why I photographed pages instead of scanning them). It’s full of details about the MINI concept cars shown in Frankfurt, Tokyo, Detroit and Geneva, including information about the ideas behind each concept, and the methods to create the cars – here is the contents:
MINI CONCEPT – design for life
“The Basic Premise Is Space” – interview with head of MINI design Gert Hildebrand
MINI Concept Frankfurt
“The MINI Concept Gives Me A Sense Of Floating” – what young japenese designer Yashiro Mihara associates with the MINI Concept
MINI Concept Tokyo
Driving The Future – the thoughts of German futurist and trend analyst Matthias Horx on the future of motoring and the sensory aspects of car design
Come To Your Senses – see, hear and smell – experience the MINI Concept with all senses
MINI Concept Detroit
Why We Need A Car With Endless Possibilities – design guru Tyler Brule loves the MINI Concept
MINI Concept Geneva
“The Time Is Right” – Vice President brand management MINI Dr Kay Segler on the future of MINI
Hands On – behind the scenes with the MINI design team
Part Matrix – combining four cars into one

Recommended for all MINI fanatics 🙂

So, I’ve given a couple of hints recently about the new MINI USA ad campaign, which is aimed primarily at existing MINI owners and presumably intends (a) to emphasise the MINI community and (b) to create intrique in non-MINI owners …
The concept is that all MINI owners should receive a package which includes “a book“; of course this book is not all it seems, and includes some “tools” needed to read messages that no-one else can read!

If you are “clever” enough to discover the secret compartment, you’ll find the tools you need to read adverts … The MINIUSA website carries details of the campaigns, including which magazines have the advert; I first learned of the campaign via this NorthAmericanMotoring thread, and bought the August 2006 issue of Blender – even before I received my “black box”.

Once you have the decoder kit and an advert, you can read a hidden message in the advert, which sends you to a website (which looks like this), containing lots of fun stuff to entertain, and eventually leads you to another promotion of MINI Takes The States!

NO, I’m still not going to reveal the secret website … but if you have your “black box” but no advert, you can download and print this scan from the Blender Advert (1.6MB) – make sure to print it at 300dpi and it will work as well as the original to read the secret message!
For those who don’t yet have their “black box”, try viewing the scan, especially the bottom half, with your eyes half closed 😉