“How’s that for a punchline?”- Nissan UK takes on Porsche and Audi

The resurrection of the GT-R “Godzilla” has transformed Nissan to a force to reckon with in the premier league of sports cars. Now with the new Nissan 370Z fetching rave reviews even from the hard-to-impress Jeremy Clarkson, competitors of “the Z” are having sleepless nights. To stab the rivals deeper in their hearts, Nissan UK has come up with a double-edged ad campaign featuring its Frankenstein monsters which challenges them Germans head-on.

The wave of print and poster ads came with punchlines that read “The Winner Hans Down,” “The Germans Came Off Wurst” and “Kaisers Chiefs” – more than enough to prompt sports car buyers to get back to the quiet room for contemplation. This was supplemented by a crafty promotional gimmick that involved an Audi TTS and a Porsche Cayman. We are not talking about names or images being used in an ad. Nissan actually bought an Audi TTS and a Porsche Cayman – the major challengers of the 370Z – and drove them around London, only after giving each a sticker job. How bad can that be…eh? Now allow us to add some details to the image in your mind. Make the sticker on the Audi read “More expensive, slower and less powerful than a Nissan 370Z” and that on the Porsche read “I dream of being as fast as a Nissan 370Z”. Ouch…that hurts! They could’ve hired a better copywriter though as the second one belongs in a children’s book.

A similar line of attack was also adopted at the Goodwood Festival of Speed where Nissan cars roamed around with “kill” stickers aimed at BMW, Audi and Porsche.

Nissan Marketing Director Steve McLennan explained the “punchy” nature of the campaign by saying that it is merely aimed at challenging the convention of German sports cars being the only benchmark for performance and quality.

Nissan had launched the ad war on German sports cars with a gigantic BFI IMAX billboard at Waterloo, London and going by the words of McLennan, the war has just begun.

Share and Enjoy: