The new McLaren Hoody is available to buy – the one voted for by YOU!

Some time ago I teamed up with the team at McLaren eShop to run a hoody design competition and you can read all about the various stages of that here. Well, the day has come, and that hoody is now for sale over at the McLaren eShop. It looks fantastic, and a certain blog is even mentioned on the product page!

McLaren Hoody

Congratulations to Melissa Nathoo whose winning design was the one chosen and has been made into this great looking hoody. What perfect timing too, now that summer seems to have disappeared for another year. Just look out the window and you’ll see it’s perfect weather for a hoody, especially one that looks as awesome as that.

Now all we need is a victorious weekend in Spa – come on McLaren, let’s get back to winning ways and show those Red Bulls and Ferraris what you’re made of!

The McLaren Hoody Design Competition – The Winner Is…

The Winning Design

Well done to Melissa Nathoo (@honeybee85) whose design, with zip version, won the vote of McLaren fans worldwide and will be made into an official piece of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes merchandise and sold on the McLaren eShop. A big well done to everyone who entered a design and a thank you to everyone who voted and made this such a success. Also, a huge thank you to the McLaren eShop for involving both myself and reaching out to all the fans via Twitter and on Facebook. All three designs were well received and all topped the polls at one time or another over the course of the last week.

Social Media and Social Networking are phrases that companies love to throw around, but there are few that actually know how to use these channels effectively. McLaren have shown full understanding, in this and other projects, and that the insight and participation of fans and followers can be just as, if not more important, than that of the organisation themselves, at times. For me personally it’s been a fun and enlightening project, both for my own participation and also seeing the feedback and interactivity from other McLaren fans.

To see what started off as a Tweet in February, culminating in a McLaren hoody that can be bought by people around the world will be a very fulfilling journey. It seems very apt that the winning design features the ‘Back to Back World Champions’ logo, less than 2 weeks after Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton scored McLaren’s first 1-2, since 2007, at the 2010 Chinese Grand Prix and McLaren proudly sits atop both the Drivers’ and Constructor’ championships.

McLaren Hoody Voting – The Final Round

For a bit of history on this, these previous blog posts may help:

Help design the new McLaren hoody!
Vote for the next McLaren Hoody
McLaren Hoody Voting Round 2 – The Final Five
McLaren hoody voting round 2 – the results are in!

The winning entries have now been adapted by the McLaren merchandise design team and we are down to 3 final designs. I’m sure you are all agree that these final designs are all terrific, and I know I’d be proud to wear any of them. It’s now up to you to decide which design you want to see made into an actual hoody and made available for sale at the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Shop. You can only vote once, so make it count.

In a spirit of sportsmanship please do not campaign your own design but let McLaren get their fans to vote. You click any of the 3 images to see bigger versions.

McLaren Hoody #1

There are 2 variations with this hoody:

Unisex Option 1 without zip: RRP £49.95 incl. VAT (Vote Option 1 without Zip)

Unisex Option 1 with zip: RRP £54.95 (Vote Option 1 with Zip)
 

McLaren Hoody #2

Unisex Option 2 without zip: RRP £64.95 incl. VAT (Vote Option 2 without Zip)
 

McLaren Hoody #3

There are 2 variations with this hoody:

Unisex Option 3 without zip: RRP £49.95 incl. VAT (Vote Option 3 without Zip)

Unisex Option 3 with zip: RRP £54.95 (Vote Option 3 with Zip)
 
Votes will be collected for a week, so you have until 3pm next Wednesday (April 28th) to make your choice.

 

McLaren hoody voting round 2 – the results are in!

Thanks to everyone who entered a design, and to the thousands, yes thousands, of people who voted. Voting is now closed and without further ado, here is how you ranked the 5 designs that made it through to round 2 – though you are no doubt aware of how things work by now, if you click any of the images you’ll get a bigger version.

5th @LauraCow

4th @matt_bacon_ #2

3rd @honeybee85

2nd @monkeyjelly

1st @matt_bacon_ #3

Congratulations! It’s now over to McLaren eShop who will be taking the top 3 entries and making them into actual designs for a final voting – the winner at that point becomes the all new Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Hoody.

Be sure to follow @McLaren_eShop and @thefifthdriver on Twitter for official updates from the McLaren F1 team. With final testing in Barcelona starting tomorrow there’s sure to be some great Tweets coming our way, and remember, it’s only a little more than 2 weeks until the first F1 race weekend of 2010 in Bahrain.

McLaren Hoody Voting Round 2 – The Final Five

EDIT @ 1pm Wednesday 24th: Voting has now closed.

Thank you to everyone who submitted a design, they have all been amazing. Due to the number of designs and the fact that we had 5 runaway winners, we are now moving to round 2 of the voting on the way to the all new McLaren hoody that will go on sale at McLaren eShop. Inspired by McLaren fans, made by McLaren and worn by McLaren fans.

The 5 designs to choose from are shown in alphabetical order – click the images to go to a bigger version.

Vote: @honeybee85

Vote: @LauraCow

Vote: @matt_bacon_ #2

Vote: @matt_bacon_ #3

Vote: @monkeyjelly

Now there are only 5 designs to choose between you only get 1 vote, so think carefully, and make your vote count.

Vote for the next McLaren Hoody

Apologies for the earlier problems – if you voted earlier you will need to vote again, this is a new poll with 2 extra added options and 2 replacement designs. I’ll blame WordPress but you can blame me – sorry.

It all started here with the announcement of the new McLaren hoody and how us, the fans, could get involved. There were lots of great design ideas and now it’s time to vote on which one you like best – the most popular design ideas will be used to make actual hoody designs by McLaren en route to creating the ultimate McLaren hoody design. There were some idea without images, including mine, which we think have been captured very well with the image designs sent in. Once these 3 designs have been used to create actual hoody designs by McLaren then the final vote is down to us again. What we get at the end of this exciting adventure is a McLaren hoody inspired and designed by McLaren fans, chosen by McLaren fans…for McLaren fans.

Take a look at the design ideas below and decide which one you lke the best – take your time and then vote for your 3 favourite designs. Make sure you look at the name carefully as a few people have submitted 2 designs (or 3 in one case!), vote for the right ones. You can click on each picture for a bigger version, and then vote for your favourite in the poll at the bottom of the page.

Vote: @Andy_Malone	Vote: @Danni_34	Vote: @Danni_34 #2
Vote: @DM_Zilla	Vote: @f1_lou	Vote: @honeybee85
Vote: @honeybee85 #2	Vote: @JoanaAlencastro	Vote: @neve86
Vote: @LucyBrown4	Vote: @lukehmuse	Vote: @mdvillari
Vote: @monkeyjelly	Vote: @naomigo	Vote: @naomigo #2
Vote: @paulgray07	Vote: @rich_fitz	Vote: @StoweGregory
Vote: @paulgray07 #2	Vote: @leothered	Vote: @LauraCow
Vote: @Matt_Bacon_	Vote: @Matt_Bacon_ #2	Vote: @Matt_Bacon_ #3
Vote: @f1madjbfan	Vote: @Vaughan2009

 

 
May the best hoodys win – good luck to everyone.

McLaren F1 Merchandise – Don’t Accept Imitations!

Ever been to The Range? You know the shop – part garden centre, part flea market! Anyway, I visited the store near my office today and found this atrocity:

NOT a McLaren MP4-25

For just £2.99 you can purchase this pathetic attempt to mimic a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Formula 1 car. Sorry, in this case the main sponsor are in fact Volatile!? Here are a few close-up shots:

Definitely NOT a McLaren MP4-25

Really NOT a McLaren MP4-25

This is what a real replica should look like:

The Real Deal

If you want an authentic replica of a McLaren Formula 1 car then avoid The Range and get yourself over to the Official Vodafone McLaren Mercedes eShop and avoid disappointment.

Help design the new McLaren hoody!

The official McLaren eShop Twitter account (@McLaren_eShop) are giving you the chance to help with the design of the next piece of McLaren merchandise – a McLaren Hoody. With the cold weather that has been, and continues to sweep the world, this couldn’t come at a better time.

In a joint initiative with McLaren Fan Blog (that’s us!), McLaren has asked people for design ideas for the hoody. All you have to do is join up to Twitter, if you haven’t already, and Tweet @McLaren_eShop with your idea – remember to include #hoody in your tweet so that we can find your tweet easily.

You have until Wednesday 17th February to send your hoody design Tweet, at which point the best idea will be put to a vote. “We’ll translate highest voted ideas into designs and share them for a further, final voting” – as Tweeted by @McLaren_eShop last night. So, get your thinking cap on (maybe a McLaren cap?) and may the best design win!