NISSAN REVEALS SEQUEL TO ITS AWARD WINNING QASHQAI TV COMMERCIAL
- Directed by Danny Kleinman, top commercials director
- Filmed in Buenos Aires with theme of ‘Playing with the city’
ROLLE, Switzerland (Mar. 11th, 2008) - Following the success of the first Nissan Qashqai TV commercial ‘Skateboard’, the company has now unveiled a teaser of the sequel which is directed for the first time by Danny Kleinman, the man behind many music videos such as Madonna, Prince and more recently James Bond title sequences.
The first Qashqai commercial won a multitude of industry awards and it recently picked up the title of the “Most Beautiful TV advert” at the recent prestigious International Automobile Festival in Paris.
Since the introduction of Qashqai in Europe last February, the model has exceeded all expectations and is celebrating over 148,000 sales on its first anniversary on the market. The Qashqai’s manufacturing plant in Sunderland, UK is even introducing an extra shift to cope with stronger-than-expected demand across Europe.
Now Nissan Europe’s advertising agencies TBWA\London & TBWA\G1 are about to reveal the long awaited sequel to the TV commercial. Breaking online on mid-March and rolling out on TV across Europe from April 6th, the epic ad builds on the hugely successful ‘Urbanproof’ campaign and positioning launched last year and will run throughout 2008 into 2009.
In signature style, the TV ad directed by Danny Kleinman captures the might of the city and the unique crossover beauty of the car. We see the city literally come to life, its buildings becoming living urban titans who pick the stylish, ‘Urbanproof' Qashqai over all others and start to play with it. The game takes the car across the whole city, before it lands back where the buildings found it.
Steve Henry, Executive Creative Director TBWA\London said: "This is an ad that is going to get people talking about it! Following on from the launch of Qashqai, which involved radical TV ads and a massively successful online campaign, this is a piece of work which really brings out the unique nature of the car.
Nissan’s most ambitious film to date was a massive operation. Here are just a few of the highlights:
8 day shoot
Massive international 170 strong crew
Avenue Corrientes, one of Buenos Aires’ busiest streets was closed down for a whole weekend in one of the city’s biggest ever shoots
Elaborately designed live action stunts using the largest crane in the city, cars dropped from great heights and explosives
Scale hydraulic powered models of multi-storey car parks
Mammoth CGI effort involving 12 artists and designers working solidly for six weeks.
Danny Kleinman added: “We used a lot of big effects, big rigs, dropped cars, and tried to do things which looked spectacular - it was quite a challenge; a big, big production.
“In a way it would have been a lot easier to create everything in computer graphics but I think you lose a bit of realness, grittiness and excitement if you go down that route.”
Jean-Pierre Diernaz, Nissan Europe’s marketing communications general manager said: “This is without doubt the most difficult and ambitious production ever for Nissan and it was very important to get a first class director. Danny Kleinman has a special touch in terms of look and feel, which suits the Qashqai perfectly.“
The TV work will be supported by press and outdoor work and will be followed by the second phase of the viral phenomenon, Qashqai Car Games and a second year of the mountain bike urban freeride tour, Nissan Qashqai Challenge.
Background:
Qashqai campaign
The previous campaign won a multitude of industry awards including two Clio 2007 silvers and one bronze award, Top Com 2007 Grand Prix and bronze, a Grand Prix and ‘Best Automotive’ award at Meribel 2007 and an Effie France 2007 in the Automotive category, as well as being shortlisted for TV and Outdoor at Cannes.
Daniel Kleinman is an award-winning commercials director and has been recognised as the number one most awarded director in the world in the Gunn Report.
Kleinman pioneered the use of special effects in post-production over the course of directing more than 100 videos in the 80’s winning numerous awards for work with artists such as ZZ Top, Fleetwood Mac, Prince and Madonna. In addition to his TV commercial work, he has taken over the mantle from Maurice Binder creating the title sequences for the James Bond films.
For more information:
Penny Szczepaniak, Nissan Europe +33 1 30 13 57 87
Pszczepaniak@nissan-europe.com
Veronique Attas on 020 7612 1167 or veroniqueattas@themediafoundry.com
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