Most people tuning into the Super Bowl on Sunday were focused on the battle between the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers, but Nissan Canada is hoping it attracted viewers with a spot based on a more universal conflict: man vs. nature.
In the fifth of its #ConquerAllConditions campaign, the company featured its Nissan Rogue as it is driven through a mountain road that is beset by heavy rain, rocks and mudslides. The idea was to showcase the vehicle’s all-wheel drive (AWD) technology to keep drivers and passengers safe.
According to Steve Rhind, director of marketing at Nissan Canada, the theme of the spot made a good fit for an opportunity like the Super Bowl.
“Part of the brief was to come up with something that’s really dramatic. It has an epic, movie-trailer-like feel,” he said.
Alan Madill, CCO at Juniper Park\TBWA, said the creative execution should resonate strongly with the audience here in particular.
“It is a Canadian platform when you look at the series overall. It started with snowmen,” he pointed out. “We’ve been through ice, we’ve been through mud. A rock slide is a very Canadian thing. I think people who are our viewers and watching it, know that Canada does have rough conditions, and we want to make sure they’re prepared for it.”
And, while no one could have predicted the mild conditions that major Canadian cities like Toronto is currently experiencing, Rhind admitted a story set in a beautiful mountainside may play better into the season after the Super Bowl ends.
“We didn’t know what the weather would be like, but we were trying to expand the campaign,” he said. “By the time it hits March, snow’s the last thing you want to see.”
Of course, this may be the last Super Bowl where audiences in Canada see Canadian ads, unless Bell and others are successful in overturning a regulatory decision by the CRTC. Rhind said that didn’t necessarily raise the stakes for the commercial, though.
“I hope it doesn’t go that way, because I think it’s a great opportunity for Canadian marketers to do something significant during the Super Bowl,” he said. “It wasn’t our strategic focus, where we were thinking this could be the last one, so we had to make it big. We have a job to do.”
Radke Films handled production for the clip, while OMD handled media buying.
