“No.”

It’s a word with an international translation. It is a favorite of toddlers. It is probably one of the most despised in sales. Despite its equally revered and abhorred reputation, BMW made the word “No.” the cover of a recent marketing pamphlet.

When I glanced over at the display rack and eyed the “No.” pamphlet, I stood back on my heels a bit shocked and then quickly beelined over to the rack to discover the what and how. What could this be about? How in the heck did they have the audacity to go this direction? Upon opening this pamphlet, I was instantly drawn into the material with their emotionally riveting photographs, succinct scrawl and smattering of white pages with black text. Then, “No.” made perfect sense. The concept and content of this pamphlet was absolutely brilliant. It took less than five minutes to read, but has occupied my mind for the last five days.

My favorite page reads like this:

“No, we will not compromise ideas.
No, we will not do it the way everyone else does it.
No, we will not give in to mass-market vanillaism.
At BMW our independence gives us the ability to say No for all the right reasons.
And while most companies choose to hide behind No, we see it as a way to say Yes – to ideas that inform not only our cars, but every aspect of who we are.”

They go on to invite you into a retrospective of where No has taken them. From concept designs to participating in the arts by allowing artists to use their vehicles as a canvas to next generation near-zero emissions cars and other innovative achievements. If you are interested in their car art, check out their New York exhibition March 25th through April 6th. More here

I say thumbs up to BMW for vehemently standing by their product and weathering the current downturn in the import luxury auto market. In a nutshell, BMW’s “No.” pamphlet is further confirmation of this little thing called integrity. It’s the thing that this site is all about. No I will not compromise on quality. No I will not design or present designs that look like the smattering of mass-merchandised fare. No I will not give away my product.

Because of No, I am even more empowered in my self definition and my business offerings. Because of No, I am further impassioned to redefine the way jewelry is purchased online. And because of No, I have become a BMW fan.