We introduced Camelpower to the world: The first ever unit to measure automotive performance in the desert - acting as a wholly new medium to promote our vehicles.

Following the example set by the inventor of horsepower, we developed our unit around a true desert beast, the camel.

Just as horsepower was developed with land-based experiments benchmarked against a horse, our sand-based experiments used a camel and followed a similar scientific approach to create a formula and value for Camelpower (dCP).

We worked with Nissan engineers and third parties to develop the formula and conducted field tests (accounting for sand friction, time, velocity, weight and inclination). Once a value for 1dCP was established, we measured the dCP value for Nissan’s top desert SUVs.

There we had it. Not only an empirical way to measure the off-road performance of our SUVs, but a metric every other car could be measured against.

This wasn’t approached purely as a campaign. We didn’t fake science, but worked along with engineers to create our formula and conduct our experiments meticulously. We vetted the entire process, experimentation and outcome with a governmental unit specialized in standardizing measurement units, Emirates Authority for Standardization & Metrology.

To promote the concept, we had to promote the science behind it. The National Geographic documentary helped bring the entire process to life, with formats created for social media, each highlighting a different aspect of the experiment and ultimately leading users to www.camelpower.ae, where they could learn more about the unit, the science, and most importantly – Nissan’s SUVs.

As if this wasn’t enough, the Camelpower unit itself became the media itself, pulling people towards Nissan. Our SUVs now had their own platform promoting their off-road performance. The video initiated the trend, and was followed by illustrations, the website and POS.

Earned media: 2.8M USD

Positive sentiment: 93%

Average time spent on website: 12.2 minutes, 245% more than any other Nissan Car Launch average.

with a 14% lead generation to SUV Desert Lineup Tabs.

Camelpower posts reached an engagement rate of 3.87 (more than 2x our SUV competition rate during the campaign period)

“Nissan Desert Lineup” Search: +13% on search engines during campaign period

In only one month, Patrol sales increased 79% over the same period in 2016, and more than doubled over the average of the previous year.

Were 34% more likely to recommend Nissan’s SUVs to their friends/family.

Awareness

Total Reach (TV + Social) + 450M people

Social Reach: + 350M people

Total PR Impression in the GCC: +22M

Nissan Brand Affinity increased by 6%

Were 37% more likely to describe Nissan as an “innovative brand”

Were 26% more likely to think that Nissan made the best off-road SUVs.

Camelpower isn’t a new type of car, or an advertising campaign. It’s an automotive breakthrough created for Nissan with global reach and application.

Our creative team didn’t work in silos to pump out print ads and storyboards, but with mechanical engineers using applied sciences to give the automotive world something it had been missing until now, an entirely new unit to measure automotive performance.

By bringing forward such a unit, through unconventional media such as National Geographic, Nissan also created its own new media, promoting the performance of their SUVs through a brand-new unit, Camelpower.

We needed to spread this idea not only on a regional level, but also internationally to be heard. Local channels alone wouldn’t do the job. With a very tight budget, we had just one event with which to make an impact.

With a car-savvy audience of off-road marshals, we also needed to be as credible as possible. Proposing such a unit would need strong support from trusted third-party sources, so we partnered with National Geographic and third-party Engineers from the start of development.

Our partnership with National Geographic included a media plan rolling out through the month of March 2017 with multiple airings of an 11 minutes video and different one minute cut-downs. The unit would eventually become a communications medium itself, promoting the performance of our SUVs.

After the launch event, the above approach would be replicated on different fronts than TV, such as Social, Web, Offline and showrooms.

SUVs are status symbols in cities across the globe, and the Middle East is no exception. However, the big difference here is that desert driving isn’t an option for many; desert racing is common and dune bashing a serious passion.

Local enthusiasts take their SUVs to the desert regularly to prove their worth, and that competitive spirit extends to constant and highly subjective debates as to which cars perform best on the dunes.

These debates revolve around two cars in particular –Toyota’s Land Cruiser and Nissan’s Patrol. If you ask any young local, Patrol is the undisputed off-road king. But if you asked us, we’d say Nissan - with its portfolio including Navara and Super Safari- has the ultimate desert line-up. Period.

And we didn’t want to just say it, but prove it, ending the debate once and for all – by creating the world’s first unit to measure desert performance.