Situational Analysis of Mini Cooper

The mini is a very historical car. The original mini was designed in 1959 by Sir Alec Issagonis. Two years later the Mini took on a more racing and sporty model called the Mini Cooper, named after the racing expert John Cooper. Minis are known to be a smaller, sportier car with maximum interior space for the driver and passengers. In 2002, BMW managed to bring back the retro image of the Mini, while at the same time making it modernized, affordable and safe.

The Mini appeals to 2 dominant target markets. The first one is younger affluent drivers, approximately aged 20-35. It appeals to this demography because of its stylistic and sporty look and its performance and handling. The Mini is an exciting car and this fits the personality and spontaneity of a younger driver. The second target market would be connoisseurs of the Mini. Since, it has a history behind it; the Mini would appeal to a driver over the age of 35. This target market would be slightly smaller than the younger market. This group would also include Europeans who quite possibly are mini enthusiasts. This target market would be wealthy who want a sportier car in their driveway or would like their children to be seen as upper class.

Mini’s success can be recognized by their unique, specific and complete forms of advertising. Online forms of advertising include flash banners, eye blasters and their outdoor advertising includes billboards, digital billboards and wallpapers. Furthermore, they use an extensive amount of print media, television and cinema advertising. The Mini is a product leader in advertising and is known for running very expensive and eye-catching advertising campaigns.

The Mini’s competition is with sporty compact cars. The Honda Civic and the Volkswagen golf would be the toughest competition. In terms of advertising, Volkswagen is the toughest competitor since they have a variety of television advertisements and print media and Honda closely follows.

The problems facing BMW with the Mini are maintaining current customer interests and adopting new target customers. Since the Mini is a unique vehicle, many customers purchase the vehicle on this premise. After driving them for roughly 4 years, the customer gets bored and wants more innovation. The high competition of compact cars also affects how loyal their customers are.