Nissan: PROJECT 370Z

Credits & Description:

Advertiser: NISSAN NORTH AMERICA
Agency: TBWA\CHIAT\DAY
Category: Best Use of Social Media
Advertising campaign: PROJECT 370Z
Community Manager: Ashton Dunn (TBWA\CHIAT\DAY)
Art Director: Dave Estrada (TBWA\CHIAT\DAY)
Account Director: Craig Werwa (TBWA\CHIAT\DAY)
Senior Account Executive: Katie Hollenkamp (TBWA\CHIAT\DAY)
Producer: Micah Kawaguchi-Ailetcher (TBWA\CHIAT\DAY)
Managing Account Director: Peter Bracegirdle (TBWA\CHIAT\DAY)
Business Affairs Manager: Robin Rossi (TBWA\CHIAT\DAY)
Strategic Planner: Sean Quinn (TBWA\CHIAT\DAY)
Composer: Martin Estrada (Vynl Music)
Account Executive: Peter Estermann (TBWA\CHIAT\DAY)
Director/Editor: Ryan R. Browne
Composer: Zoux Bluestein (Vynl Music)
Creative Director/Americas: Karl Dunn (TBWA\CHIAT\DAY)
Global Creative President: Rob Schwartz (TBWA\CHIAT\DAY)
Creative Director/Americas: Tito Melega (TBWA\CHIAT\DAY)
Agency Executive Producer: Elaine Hinton (TBWA\CHIAT\DAY)
Copywriter: Nick Ciffone (TBWA\CHIAT\DAY)
Executive Director Of Integrated Production: Richard O'Neill (TBWA\CHIAT\DAY)

Execution
Facebook served as the virtual garage for the campaign; the wall was the hub forfans to discuss, vote, and witness the build progress. Facebook helped keep the userexperience clean and simple.The key to the media was in the authenticity of the idea. Instead of rolling this out as abombarding ad campaign, Nissan empowered fans to spread stories, seeded the projectout to blogs, and partnered with auto publications like Motor Trend to create buzz for thecampaign naturally.

Effectiveness
During the course of Project 370Z’s build, the Nissan Performance Facebook communitydoubled in size, and saw 60% engagement growth without any media support, making itthe most engaging Nissan social-media campaign to date.Despite its limited budget, Project 370Z gained substantial earned media coveragefrom several highly respected titles like Top Gear - resulting in over 14 million socialimpressions.The campaign was so successful and so representative of Nissan’s innovative spirit thatclients are applying the execution all over the world.

Strategy
Objective: With a small budget, Nissan needed to identify and engage a core communityfor the upcoming 2013 Nissan performance lineup launch.Target: The Z car community had a deep technical knowledge and an unshakableconfidence in both their purchase and upgrade decisions. This was the perfect fan baseto tap into.Brief: Unite these core Z fans and ignite their passion to grow the core performancecommunity.Strategy: Adopt the language and behavior of a tuner to earn enthusiast respect.Idea: Activate Nissan brand advocates by giving them a project to own. A project wherebyNissan and fans could work together to build something they both cared a lot about - theNissan Z.