Nissan wanted to launch the first 100% electric car into Australia. Problem was, most Australians had no idea the electric car was a reality. They thought it was just a thing of the future.

We needed to get the nation talking and educate them not just about the Nissan LEAF but the whole electric car category.

So rather than just revealing car, we began by asking a simple, thought-provoking question: In a world without petrol, what do we do with the pumps?

We purchased dozens and dozens of used petrol pumps. Then we dreamt up other things we could turn them into. We teamed-up with a famous Australian artist and we transformed the pumps into fun, interactive, everyday items like fish tanks, gumball machines, dog kennels, disco balls, Pacman games and a whole lot more.

We then invited news and lifestyle media, politicians and celebrities to a private viewing of the exhibition. To set the scene we featured the controversial documentary ‘Revenge of the electric car’. Then guests were given a tour of the exhibition and offered individual test-drives of the LEAF.

This launched larger public exhibitions where people played with the artwork and could learn facts about the Nissan LEAF via near-field technology which linked them to features of the Nissan LEAF on-line and encouraged sharing.

The PR campaign created mass media and consumer awareness about the commercial reality of the Nissan LEAF and successfully positioned Nissan as being at the forefront of innovation.

In Australia, this was a new car launch as well a new automotive segment launch. So the campaign also had to serve a wider education purpose. The target audience was much bigger than usual — middle to upper-class, socially/environmentally conscious Australians, aged 20-55.

Our objective was to launch the Nissan LEAF into Australia and convince Australians the electric car was now a reality.

Research showed that most Australians thought the electric car was just a thing of the future. So we set out to show them — with the new Nissan LEAF — petrol could soon be a thing of the past.

News.com.au (Australia’s largest online news portal), featured a video and article about the exhibition which gained maximum reader comments and Nissan’s CEO was interviewed on Australia’s primetime news discussion show, The Project.

After just 4 days of exhibiting…. we had over 12 million views via Facebook sharing, 15,856,309 online earned media impressions, over 100 editorial media articles, over 17 million impressions via online media stories and 66,940,445 editorial opportunities to see “A World Without Petrol” in non-motoring media. All without a single piece of paid for media

Since launch Australia’s largest public art museum has asked to exhibit the bowsers and Nissan was voted in the Top 30 Most Innovative Companies in Australia by BRW Magazine. The Nissan LEAF campaign was sighted as the primary reason.

We put electric cars firmly on the news agenda and successfully positioned Nissan as being at the forefront of innovation.

We invited influential celebrities, politicians, news, lifestyle, technology, environmental media and bloggers to exclusive previews of the exhibition in Sydney and Melbourne, and screened ‘Revenge of the electric car’ a controversial documentary about the electric car’s struggle for acceptance within the motor industry. This set the scene for the media before revealing the exhibit. Chris Paine, the Director even joined us from the US to answer questions.

Natalie Basingthwaithe, a local singer and celebrity mum hosted the event and talked about the need to ensure a world without petrol for our kids, gaining interest and attendance from celebrity magazines about the launch.

Media were then given individual opportunities to test-drive the car, learn about its benefits and new technology

Footage from the launch and pictures from the event were then circulated to news desks.

How could Nissan on a minimal budget, launch not just a new car model, but a whole new car category into the Australian market targeting a consumer that perceived that category as science fiction?

An unconventional car needed an unconventional launch. Motoring media already knew about the Nissan LEAF but the majority of the public don’t read the motoring pages and therefore still thought about electric cars as a thing of the future. We needed a PR campaign that would raise awareness of the electric car category as a credible option and position the Nissan LEAF as being the leader in its field. We did this by asking a simple thought provoking question – ‘in a world without petrol, what would we do with all the pumps?’. Roads would be silent and bowsers could be recycled into something more useful, something fun. By creating an interactive exhibition of the recycled petrol pumps and educating both non-motoring media and consumers about the realities of the electric car, we intended to start a debate about an important social issue and position the Nissan LEAF as the solution.