Here we are on the cutting edge of marketing; web episodes for a car brand. If the idea feels familiar, it is – think BMW’s “The Hire” series from about 3 years ago. But wait these are for the Mini Cooper, owned by BMW. Now this edge is so sharp, I’m bleeding.
Before the keyboard gets too sticky, a couple of other things to note. “The Hire” series for all its disconnection from real sales figures at least indicated an understanding of the target audience; male, young, affluent and dying to be hip.

The “new” Mini “Hammer and Coop” series is as disconnected from the brand’s target and current trends as it will be from positive sales figures. Parodies of ’70s and ’80s TV shows are old news, showing up in mainstream media for the last four years. Similarly well-done parodies of “Knight Rider” have been SNL (and competitors) fare for years.

Not every marketer can be expected to keep up with the latest trends, but they should know how to define a target and position a product. So what were they thinking here? Really hard to tell - is it a fast car? Well it can outrace a beat up pickup truck. Is it a stylish car? It looks like a Mini, no comparison to the Stealth styling of KITT or Starsky and Hutch’s Grand Torino.

This stuff damages brands. The Mini Cooper has a completely unique form distinguishing it and its owners. Now that key benefit is buried in a mudslide of poor parody and bad marketing. Do people who drive Mini’s feel great when they see this? Does it make new car shoppers pull into a Dealership? At least “The Hire” series enshrined the BMW in an aura of cool, this just leaves with that same old “so-old” feeling.

Gilbert Arenas didn’t enter the NBA with as much fanfare as LeBron James or Yao Ming, but the Washington Wizards guard is gradually becoming the league’s most popular player – thanks to the Internet. Arenas, otherwise known as Agent Zero, was recently named as a starting All-Star after garnering more than 200,000 votes in a span of 2 weeks to surge ahead of Vince Carter.

Arenas’ notoriety has stemmed from his NBA.com blog, where he has been called the “NBA’s first blog superstar.” His candid blogging has gained attention from fans and fellow sports bloggers with irreverant comments predicting when he’ll score 50 points and how he’d give up one NBA season for the chance to score 85 points against Duke and the coach who cut him from Team USA. Arenas’ candor and playfulness is refreshing compared to athletes who have been media-savvy since high school and rarely reveal their true personality.

Along with the nickname Agent Zero, which was originated by a Washington sports blogger, Arenas speaks of himself in the third person as the “East Coast Assassin” and “The Black President”, which is the name of his myspace page.

While Arenas has built his brand from a grassroots level, other atheletes are using the Internet to reach fans in a new way. Dwyane Wade, Sports Illustrated’s 2006 Sportsman of the Year, is currently negotiating with Google to “revolutionize how athletes are presented online”. Google has developed a plan that will make DwyaneWade.com fully interactive with sports news feeds, email and user-generated videos.

Athletes are no longer waiting around for Nike and Coca-Cola to approach them with endorsement deals. The Internet has provided a forum for athletes to connect with fans. By doing so, mega-brands will line up to partner with established, hip brands like Agent Zero and Dwyane Wade.