GT-R NFT
Nissan Canada Inc
Issue 61 | January 2022
Agency
Juniper Park\TBWA
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer Graham Lang Creative Director TJ Arch Associate Creative Director Derek Silveira, Jason Lee Copywriter Jonathan Dick Art Director Olivia Hashka
Production Team
Senior Integrated Producer Alice Xian Content Editor Rod Reano Senior Editor Mark D’Amico Bolt Executive Producer Nadia Dunn
Other Credits
Managing Director Adam Lang Cluster Director Jessie Sweeney Account Executive Emillie Cecillon Account Manager, Edelman Shae Pollock Director, Edelman Jessica Fralick Client Director of Marketing Ken Hearn Director Corporate Communications Didier Marsaud Senior Marketing Communications Manager Alannah David-Clark Marketing Communications Manager Michael Bowen Senior Planner Roxane Barry PR & Communications Manager Douaa Jazouli
Date
October 2021
Background
Nissan wanted to bring the high-performance GT-R to market in a way that would resonate with the sort of culturally savvy people who would be interested in the car.
Idea
Thinking way beyond the traditional lead generation model for a car as special as the GT-R with such a passionate group of enthusiasts, Nissan Canada announced they were going to auction off a one-of-akind work of digital art inspired by the car.
With a reserve price of CAD$280,000 set, whoever purchased the NFT would also acquire the keys to a 2021 GT-R NISMO Special NFT Edition.
The car itself was extremely limited but now that it came with its own NFT it was officially unique.
The artwork was created with Canadian artist/futurist Alex McLeod and was hosted on RubiX Network, a premium NFT marketplace, from September 23rd with the live auction between October 5th and 11.59pm on October 7th.
All profits above the $280,000 reserve were to be donated to charity following the auction.
Results
The campaign garnered worldwide attention, achieving a global reach of some 39 million impressions across organic, paid, and earned media. This amounted to 779,465 impressions per day from the launch of the teaser on September 21st to November 9th. It was covered in 108 articles, 40 social posts and delivered the advertising value equivalent of $360,502.66*, which is six times the value of the amount invested into the campaign.
Our Thoughts
Forbes magazine has recently written that ‘NFTs are reshaping brand marketing in the creator economy.’ Luxury brands have been early adopters. I’ll be honest, I don’t understand why people will pay more for a virtual item than the real thing. At least in this auction the purchaser ended up with a real Nissan GT-R to park outside his house but in Australia a NFT of a Yellow Glow 1971 Ford Falcon sold recently for AUD $50,000, Elsewhere, someone else paid US $110,000 for the NFT of a Formula 1 car that only ever raced in a computer game. Now that is unreal. The anonymous purchaser said, “ “I could have bought a real car for this. And that’s what makes good stories at the end of the day.” This idea from Juniper Park\TBWA, then, is one hell of a story. Especially since it was (mistakenly) reported that the NFT had sold for CAD $2.86 million, ten times the bid price.
If advertising is how you add value to a product, this campaign has succeeded by all criteria.