You can only wish you were on the right A-list somewhere so that you qualify to get invited to one of MINI’s 18 events around the US that are associated with its ongoing “Wanderlust” social-media-meets-event marketing campaign that was announced on April 1st.

But voyeurism is the whole point here. MINI is hoping that brand fans and wanna-be owners of its Countryman will check in on how the brand trendsetters party. “We’re setting up these centrally organized events with influencers from different backgrounds and hoping this gets people involved in the campaign,” Beate Wiesner, Wanderlust project leader, told brandchannel.Continue reading...

Dan Neil’s new review of the Mini Countryman in The Wall Street Journal starts out as a tribute to the latest version, noting its “spacious rear cabin,” “brilliant” accessory rail that allows interior personalization of the car, and adherence to Mini’s “epic” exterior design language.

But soon, Neil’s passionate piece veers into a sort of obituary for the Mini brand. “With the Countryman,” he writes, “tiny sharks have been jumped.”Continue reading...