Direct news: Direct choice - Mini

While not totally convinced of the correlation between personality and the squiggles that emanate from my pen, I keep an open mind. And so, it seems, does BMW, which is offering a weekend Mini adventure based on the graphologist's analysis of a prize-draw winner's handwriting.

Presumably those whose writing shows them to be solitary beings will be sent on a polar expedition, those with a social bent to a commune, and thrill-seekers a whiz around Silverstone in a Mini Clubman. Who knows? No one who reads the direct mail pack, that's for sure - there is not even a hint of what the prize may be; just the assumption that it will fit your personality.

The gate-folded, mostly black, mailer is certainly well conceived and put together and the pictures of the Mini, one of my favourite cars, are good. However, the copy is slightly lightweight, the bulk of the print given over to the rules and 'Small Print' as the mailer so eloquently puts it.

In essence, this is just a rather obvious data-gathering exercise, with a rather inexact offering being the catalyst to respond.

Mailing: Lida.

This article was first published on Marketing