MINI Celebrates Its Britishness with a Horn Version of the National Anthem

The «most British» small car, BMW’s MINI, is paying tribute to Team GB and all things British with a new quirky promotional activity this month. Just before the London Olympics 2012 open, the car brand has teamed up with the London Philharmonic Orchestra to play the famous «God Save the Queen» theme, the national anthem on.. the car horns.

Photo: MINI horn concert

Nine musicians and the horns of nine MINI London 2012 special-edition models duly joined forces to make a rousing performance and record the anthem with an unusual twist.

“It’s the first time that we’ve attempted to play a piece using just car horns as instruments, and it was a fun and unique experience for us as musicians,” said the conductor Gareth Newman after the recording, which you can see and hear in the video below:

The idea for brands to perform some well known and much-loved melodies in an unexpected way is not new. Back in 2010 a beer brand Grolsch also teamed up with ‘Swingtop Philharmonic Orchestra’ to play a Christmas carol on green beer bottles. Roughly the same idea was taken on board by another beer brand — Guinness two years ago.