Back in the Game
Nissan Canada Inc
Issue 35 | June 2015
Agency
TBWA\Toronto
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director Allen Oke Creative Directors Rodger Eyre Gerald Kugler Art Director Guilherme Bermejo Writer Nick Doerr Designer Alex Nardi Illustrator Murilo Maciel
Production Team
Agency Producers Nadya MacNeil Lauren Sloan Sophie Bennett Tamara Heyfron Agency Editors David Quach Tyler Erdelac Production Company Artifact Entertainment Editing Saints Editorial Post Production The Vanity Audio House Eggplant Collective
Other Credits
Brand Director Calvin Daniels Account Director Rimi Singh Account Supervisor Leah Wilson Account Executives Lisa Smith Joshua Medeiros Director of Digital and Social Strategy Lucia Mancuso Activation Agency TrojanOne Media Agency OMD
Date
November 2014
Background
As a Japanese automotive manufacturer, Nissan was always looking for ways to connect with consumers to abolish the "foreign" stigma associated with imported brands. As major sponsors of the Canadian Football League they wanted to help their dealers connect more closely with the communities they served whilst also encouraging everyday Canadians to relate better to the brand.
Idea
In Canada, government budget cuts had had a disastrous effect on sport in schools, particularly in poorer areas. Many schools were losing their football teams until Nissan stepped in with their "Back in the Game" programme.
Nissan dealers were empowered to give their local teams material and emotional support. This came in the shape of new uniforms, to help foster confidence and a sense of identity within the teams, morning meal programmes, so no-one went hungry before practice, and on-field training from pro players.
Documentary film crews followed students, teachers and families across the season, and the finished web series looked in detail at issues such as bullying and fatherlessness.
The stories got the attention of Canada's largest sports broadcaster TSN, who aired the 30-minute "Back in the Game" film during Grey Cup weekend (Canada's Super Bowl) to an audience of nearly half the country. And it all ran unpaid.
Results
Local stories of high school football became a national conversation about the importance of the sport in schools. "Back in the Game" was covered by the CBC, Global News, the Globe and Mail and the Huffington Post and ultimately received 111 million media impressions.
But the best results: 21 high schools got their teams back and 842 kids got to play football again.
Our Thoughts
When you get it right, and I’d say TBWA\ Toronto and Nissan Canada have, branded content brings benefits to both consumer and marketer. For the Canadian consumer, Nissan have brought a welcome, timely and relevant intervention to the issue of sport in schools. They’ve spread awareness of the problem while providing a solution. And they have done it in a way that is brilliantly local, making the dealers the heroes. Local papers, local blogs and local people would have all been talking about this initiative and while it may take a while to have an effect, I’m sure consumers will thank Nissan by seeing it as patriotic to buy Japanese.