It's something of a cliché now how all car ads seem the same. Depending on the model, the cars will be whipping about an urban cityscape or scaling a rocky cliff, assuming the ad is even about driving the car and not about the "experience" surrounding the car. Thanks to this marketing homogenization and other issues, it can be hard to make an impact with consumers.
Recognizing this, Nissan decided to take a new route with their 370Z. This luxury sports coupe will make its debut around the world not in a car show or automotive magazine, but instead appearing in Need for Speed: Undercover. The car manufacturer hopes this drubs up some interest from potential buyers and not just those who work in the gaming industry and will never feasibly be able to afford a Nissan Z.
We chatted with Robert Brown, Senior Manager for Nissan Marketing Communications and Keith Munro, Vice President of Marketing at Electronic Arts, and discussed this pioneering collaboration.
EA's largest partnership with Nissan yet
Since the beginning, the Need for Speed series has been about fast, exotic cars. The cars featured in the game have always been real vehicles, some from companies like the Lamborghinis and McLarens of the world, but most coming from more recognizable brands like Ford and Mitsubishi. There have also been plenty of Nissan cars in the Need for Speed franchise, which laid the foundation for this collaboration.
"This promotion gives Nissan a way to access the audience in an organic way and deciding to do this was really a 'eureka' moment for us."
"We've been working with Nissan for a number of years, and it has become an increasingly strong alliance, highlighted last year when we helped promote the launch of the GTR revealed at the LA Auto Show," described Munro. "That was successful and we were looking for more substantial ways to promote the new 2009 Nissan 370Z. They felt there were plenty of marketing opportunities in Need for Speed; and because of that relationship they knew we'd replicate the look and performance and well and encapsulate the feel of driving the new Z."
"It was in everyone's best interest to have the hottest cars in the game," notes Brown. "We got together and started thinking about opportunities to capitalize on the partnership between us, including the first reveal of a car ever in a video game, and we saw the potential in that."
"Gaming has really grown as a mainstream entertainment; we've been spending more and more every year on the Need for Speed franchise," added Munro. "I think the brand fits with the Z personality and Need for Speed is a huge franchise. We sell 10 million copies between frontline and back catalog titles every year, so when you reach this many targeted users you can see why they'd see this as a cool opportunity."
Indeed, considering the "cool" factor of the new 370Z, the video game audience is the perfect demographic for Nissan to target, especially those gamers that love fast racing titles.
"It comes down to our audience and increasingly they're online and into videogames," said Brown. "Our market is males in early 30s, and they're into leading edge technology and cars. Gamers in general are older now; they're guys like me who played Atari back in the day. This promotion gives Nissan a way to access the audience in an organic way and deciding to do this was really a 'eureka' moment for us."
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