The motor company has partnered with Yaya Touré to ignite customers’ passions in a new European ad campaign. Jessica McGreal reports
Nissan is ready for kick off: it has donned its shirt, pulled up its socks and tightened its boots ready to win big with its new European marketing campaign. The football-themed activity – featuring Manchester City midfielder Yaya Touré – is to be rolled out in 27 languages, across 20 European markets. The size of this marketing push shows the traditional big B2B ad campaign is definitely not dead, despite the growing popularity of smaller, personalised communications.
Showcasing its range of light commercial vehicles (LCVs), the campaign centres on a high-intensity short television ad. ‘Truckerball’ is a game that sees Touré captaining a team of football skills specialists in an indoor football match. However, this is not just any match – the game is played on the back of a collection of moving Nissan NT400 Cabstars. Set to the energetic soundtrack: ‘Jump Around’ by Everlast and House of Pain, the footballers are seen leaping from vehicle to vehicle as they strive to score the winning goal. As the goal is scored the camera flashes to Touré in the driving seat of one of the vans, smiling at his team’s triumph.
The brand chose to use football as a way to connect with its target audience of SME owners through their hobbies and interests, rather than with a business message that is unlikely to resonate with professionals not working in a corporate environment. After becoming the official automotive sponsor of Manchester City in July 2014, Nissan decided to build a close relationship with Touré due to his vast popularity in Europe as well as across the globe. The brand did this through working with the sports star and him supporting its activity on social media and digital channels. As a brand ambassador Touré brings further publicity to the company by promoting their key messages.
Building awareness
Created by ‘Nissan United’, the company’s dedicated unit within TBWA/G1 agency, the activity aims to bring together brand values and passion in a way that is translatable to customers across Europe.
The ad will be supported by digital and print communications, with the campaign running in two phases: the first capitalises on the excitement which came as a result of the Champions League Final and ambassadors like Touré tweeting to their huge follower base. The second phase will have a stronger customer focus and be rolled out in September and March 2016.
Gareth Dunsmore, marketing communications general manager at Nissan Europe, explains: “Our main audience is SMEs so the key platform is digital. It’s not about shouting louder than everyone else, it’s about making the content available on their terms.”
Sports sponsorship
This activity follows the first year of Nissan’s four-year sponsorship of the UEFA Champions League. The brand decided to sponsor the tournament because of its premium nature and its popularity across the globe (the final alone has more viewers than the Super Bowl). Nissan wanted to use the platform to promote its key message: ‘Innovation that excites.’
Dunsmore explains the significance of sponsorship in B2B: “Football is one of the most emotive sports in the world. I wouldn’t just recommend any sports sponsorship; however the Champions League offers a premium quality environment and a unique opportunity to have a one-to-one relationship with SMEs and big brands almost all year round. It’s these kind of opportunities that only a sponsorship like the Champions League can offer.”
The winning goal
A campaign of this size and nature doesn’t come without challenges. Before embarking on the activity the marketing department had to win over its internal stakeholders. The bold nature of the campaign – unlike anything Nissan had done before – meant the team had to stress the importance of innovation, while keeping in line with brand values to ensure buy-in.
However, the marketing team is already enjoying success with the campaign off to a fantastic start. The company’s engagement levels across social media have soared, while employees and customers have really embraced the campaign.
Going forward, Nissan will be releasing new creative and updates consistent with its brand values. Meanwhile, its business arm has another big focus this year: electric vehicles for business. It has already launched ‘E for business’ focused on promoting electric mobility. The campaign will see Nissan going back to its grassroots to see how it can add value to the SME community through electric motors.
