Miata Mailing List: October 1997, Message #117
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From: 	Mark Wold <mark@faxinnovations.com>

Subject: Re: The 1999 Miata. ( Long )

Date: 	Wed, 1 Oct 1997 12:30:58 +0000



At 04:52 PM 9/30/97 -0700, John C. Day wrote:

>First off, Mark, great job!  I can hardly remember where I parked my car

>last, I'd never have been able to remember all that!

>



Thanks.



>

>Just wondered if you got any indication from the interviews that they

>"got it"?  The nut to be cracked IMO, is how to convey through

>advertising the emotions and thrill of driving it, *and* and the

>*anticipation* of the drive one feels just by looking at the car when

>parked.  Did you get the feeling they understood the magic?  To be a fly

>on the wall at the ad agencies' meetings on this one... :-)

>



Quite frankly, NO. Look at in these terms. I had probably 10 different time

slots to choose from, so just here in the Chicago area, they were probably

talking to 80 different current Miata owners.( I'm surprised that I'm the

only one so far on the list, or are there others out there? ) This

translates into paying $6000 to the attendees, rent the space, buy the

opposing cars or lease them for a week (all brand new by the way), and pay

a staff. That's a lot of money. If it had been me doing research, I would

have searched the Internet for info, found the mailing list, and cherry

picked a hundred or so of the more active people on the list and privately

solicited them for info. Most of us would have probably answered their

questions for free.



The fact that they had a 1999 Miata there was of no matter to the survey.

They could have just as easily has a well maintained 1990. I myself took

the lead to learn as much as I could, instead of teaching them.



>

>Is it fair to say that the shape of the nose opening is basically

>unchanged?  Happen to notice if they added a factory grill?  No driving

>lights, either, right?

>



IIRC, the mouth was a slightly different shape, no grill, no driving lights.



>

>Is this plastic piece colored solid black, or is it something you can

>see through?

>



Solid black/dark gray.



>

>Again, Mark, thanks for taking the time to write up such a complete

>picture!

>



I just hope I was remembering everything the way I saw it.



Mark.