So you’re launching yet another new version of the mini.
The mini countryman has 4 doors.
So what do you do?
How about the old “ how many people can you squeeze into a mini” joke?
Thankfully however the idea has been given a new ‘virtual’ twist (of course).
The website asks “help us by going to a World record attempt location near you and projecting yourself into the mini”
And I saw one of the record attempts this week in Liverpool.
Basically they ask passers by to go into a booth and record video of themselves presumably squashing up against something. The films are then uploaded and projected inside the car that is situated on a stand outside the booth. So you then see yourself virtually squashed into the tiny mini.
The record at the moment stands at 5331.
It’s technically very well done. And there’s a nice line of copy on the dummy car, which reads
”The real mini does not come made of fibreglass and full of people.”
No idea how they’ll make this idea work as a tv campaign though.

Of course I’m talking about the Gifford Flower show.
Where? Gifford it’s a posh village in the Countryside about 20 miles south of Edinburgh.
And the annual flower show is always worth the 3-mile drive from our house (we live near the neighbouring smaller and definitely less posh village of Humbie).
And “Flower show” really doesn’t do this spectacular day out justice. For starters it’s not just flowers on show, (though there are quite a lot of flower categories up for grabs including “best novice houseplant” no I don’t know what that means either.
In fact there are dozens of other imaginative categories the villagers can (and certainly do) enter.
Photography is always a keenly fought contest
“Best photograph of an old building” “best holiday photo” and “best photo of Gifford Church” gathered dozens of entries.
“Best poem written on the theme of ‘spring’ ” had 9 entries, which is impressive for any village in my opinion.
And the controversial winner of the “best crocheting” category was the talk of the marquee.
Then of course there are the Vegetable categories, which cover everything from “best onion” to “Heaviest cabbage.”
But without fail our favourite table holds the entries for the children’s competitions and our favourite category “Best face made from garden Veg” was a worthy winner this year.
I always feel sorry for the Edinburgh International Festival. Imagine them stupidly organising it to clash with this.