It was March 2020, COVID-19 had come as a shockwave that had taken the whole world by storm. People were suddenly forced to stay indoors, and the atmosphere was filled with gloom & uncertainty. As the world came to a complete stop, the car industry was one of the worst hit ones.

Nissan is one of leading automotive brands in the Gulf region and it took this period of turmoil as an opportunity to look to the future and create a conversation that would keep it relevant.

That was the brief to us – to keep Nissan relevant when there was no vehicle in sight on the roads and people were forced to stay locked down in their houses.

We wanted to reach as many people as possible and make them feel positive. Hence, the objectives set were:

1. Views

2. Sentiment on social media

From the start, we were clear that this was not the time to communicate product, technology or anything else related to the brand. This was the time to focus on building the emotional connect Nissan has, not only with its customers but the people in the region at large. To build relevance, it was imperative that our communication was genuine, in touch with reality & empathetic. At the same time, it was important for the brand to echo the views of governments worldwide and play its part in communicating the message of safety, in a different manner though.

This led to our strategy – As a brand that is at the forefront of developing & promoting smarter & safer mobility, a brand that has always encouraged everyone to enjoy the driving experience on & off-road, this is the time to encourage people to not drive, stay home and be safe.

Roads in the Middle East, especially in big cities like Dubai are always busy. People are driving all the time, day and night. But the coronavirus pandemic made the unthinkable happen. With cities going under complete lockdown, the roads were eerily empty.

We created a film that takes the viewers down some of the busiest roads in the region but with no vehicles on them. The film was crafted as an ode to these empty roads, an acknowledgement of the feelings cars and those who love to drive them were feeling during the challenging times. But implicit to this expression of longing was a message of solidarity & support encouraging the drivers to stay home, stay safe and leave the roads empty.

The film was produced using stock & existing footages, online voiceover & in-house editing. The film ran on social platforms across key markets in the Gulf region.

The counterintuitive nature of the video content immediately struck a chord:

1. Views: The video garnered more than 16 million impressions and over 8 million views, 34% higher than planned

2. Sentiment: For the first time ever for Nissan, the video had 100% positive sentiment on social media with 67% of it being strongly positive, a rare feat for any brand

3. People were moved by the film and shared it as an expression of what they were going through - the video managed to get over 23000 shares & over 500 comments on social media

4. We’re able to achieve this at 75% lower cost than our benchmark

In addition, we got tremendous earned media response with publications around the world sharing our content. It was also Adopted as official Nissan 2020 campaign globally in the US, Canada, India, Australia, New Zealand, Middle East and Northern Africa.