Have you filled the tank of your new Nissan Leaf? Excuse me? Nissan’s new Leaf campaign takes a tongue-in-cheek look at what would happen if everything in our daily lives used gasoline and the problems that would cause. This somewhat different approach comes from the brand’s creative manifesto which, in part asks, “What if everything ran on gas? No electricity. No renewables. Just gas.” Like your alarm clock and your dentist’s drill.
“But everything doesn’t run on gas,” the series points out. “Most things run on electricity, which is clan, and quiet and uses fewer parts, and needs less maintenance. Most things can be plugged in and charged up and don’t need a tank or a pump.”
And the payoff is of course the all-electric Leaf. When questioned about this approach, Jon Brancheau, Nissan’s vice president of marketing commented, “By using humor and asking the simple question, ‘what if everything ran on gas’ we’re able to rationally make the case that electric cars’ time has arrived.”
The campaign is a full multimedia push using television, online, print and direct marketing to convey the message. And the campaign, which breaks Monday, Memorial Day, takes every day products and situations and injects gas-powered-humor to sell the Leaf with several four :15-second teaser commercials.
Then in the next phase, starting June 10, this :60-second commercial will run – along with web takeovers of YouTube and Yahoo among others. Additionally print and direct mail will also launch. It will be interesting to see what happens with this new approach. The campaign was created and produced by TBWA Chiat-Day
