Firefox compatible

Client: Nissan
Creative Agency: TEQUILA\ Los Angeles
Media Agency: OMD Los Angeles
Technology Vendor: Unicast

In an effort to build opinion, Nissan launched a series of new ads in early January 2006 that aims to build relationships with the elusive automotive enthusiast audience. The first ad in the series features the Murano and its revolutionary transmission, which Nissan touts as being the smoothest shifting experience imaginable. Nissan demonstrates this via an expandable 728x90, which reveals additional insight behind this unique transmission compared to a standard conventional transmission. The creative uses a simple flash/video concept to communicate the smoothness, featuring a cup of coffee that jostles and spills during shifting of the standard transmission; the coffee remains nearly motionless during shifting with Nissan's advanced transmission. This demonstration effectively communicates the benefits of a rather complicated product feature while maintaining the brand themes of their more emotional brand building creative executions.
-- TEQUILA\ Los Angeles

I long ago trained my eye to avoid banner ads when viewing websites. The ones that appear directly over the text I'm trying to read on a news site are particularly irritating, as are the ones that scroll down the page with you, following you like an annoying, oh, I don't know, car salesman? But Tequila created a subtle one, with winged Muranos gliding by and the announcement that flying cars are here. As a member of the Where's My Jetpack? generation, I am always eager to learn about flying cars. So, like the easy mark (pigeon?) that I am, I did what Nissan asked and moused over for the full story. The cars fly away and the banner expands. Very nice. Now the comedy begins, with a pretty good comparison between a conventional automatic transmission and Nissan's Xtronic CVT, which sort of works like the autobike, continuously shifting, and according to Nissan and Tequila, "Driving it almost feels like flying."

As a way of illustrating this, they give us the Coffee Cam, which is pretty clever. The regular transmission sloshes the coffee all over the place in time with the audible shifting of gears, while the Murano leaves your console Armour All shiny and free of coffee. That is pretty intriguing and cute. The coffee cam is marked with an asterisk noting "dramatization," lest any pigeons out there actually try this. My ability to be swayed by advertising does not extend to traveling with a cup of coffee without a lid on it.
 
This is excellent use of Flash and video in a "user must act" way, with great bait to get the user to act. There's nothing in your face. No annoying car salesman, just a good concept illustrating a revolutionary feature in a humorous way. That's quality advertising.
-- Dave Wilkie, creative director, Kinetic Results, LLC

I enjoyed this creative, and had already noticed a banner in this campaign in rotation on the 'net. I remember it because I found it reminiscent of the "flying toaster" screensaver from the early days of the web; I watched it for several seconds at that time to figure out what was being advertised.
 
This is a very attractive ad. The font usage is intriguing and kept me engaged as the copy unfolded. I think the ad looks terrific when fully expanded; there's a cohesive look to it that makes it seem like a world unto itself-- safe and comfy. I'm not convinced that the coffee wouldn't spill, however, as I live in a city in which potholes can literally jar a driver's teeth. But everything is relative, and I can believe the Nissan ride is more comfortable than most. 
-- Priscilla Eshelman, manager, site representation, Tribal Fusion

First and foremost, kudos to Nissan/Tequila for keeping it simple. More and more, we see too many brands fit everything including the employee handbook when it comes to online ads/opportunities. I also fully appreciate the expandable media. This is where they really kept it simple inside the expandable real estate, rather than turning it into a clutter-fest.

The brief stated that the client wanted to build a relationship by targeting "enthusiasts" with this "cars can fly" ad. I felt it also spoke to the early adopter audience as well. And they did both, without alienating either one. Nice. The coffee concept was not only fresh (no pun intended) but communicated the Murano's smooth shifting quite effectively. The flash video demonstration was clean, to the point and communicated the benefits of a rather complicated product feature.

Lastly, I'm a stickler for word breaks and "widows," so the one thing that drove me crazy was the careless word break in the first paragraph of the copy block (trans-mission).
-- Felipe Bascope, resident vibe master, Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles