Apple and Nissan; 2 Brands, 1 Ad
I was surprised last night while watching tv to see a commercial for a Nissan car that prominently featured an Apple iMac computer.
You may have seen it, a woman is shopping and customizing a car on her iMac… the car is spinning nearby as she interacts with the computer. The Apple logos on the front bezel as well as the back of the computer are quite prominently featured in the storyline and visuals.
My guess is that Nissan is attempting to raise their brand up to the popularity of Apple’s and affiliate with Apple’s design leadership.
Also, I thought about Apple approving that placement, what is behind their thinking? Now I’m not a big fan of Apple’s TV/video ads, I don’t think they are rational and concrete enough and don’t show the real advantages/benefits of their platform. But I also wonder what benefit Apple perceives they will get from this association? Is it purely the exposure?
I wonder if it will actually work, I’d like to see some of their measurement and research results around this campaign. I’d also like to hear your thoughts… especially someone that has TV branding experience.
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Comments
Apple is very particular indeed and will soon need more broad-based support from its customers I believe.
They are moving rapidly out of the cult market into mainstream and with it some more negative rumours than they have had in a long time: “dis-ing” conferences in Europe, financial mis-dealings, a microsoft style stock price, running low on ipod ideas leading to potential feature bloat, “hot” machines, battery issues, unexpected reactions to their underdog now topdog tv ads, the move to intel, the google mac blog and a host of other “moves”.
This all adds up to a need to buddy up to a much wider, atypical base as witnessed by the Nissan (on purpose I believe), little “spots” between CNN folks during stock price and product discussions, the http://www.one.org ipod to help end poverty with Product Red…
iPod is now bigger than its own brand and that is a two-edged sword. One that I see apple weilding deftly…and more to come.
I think there might be more of a connection than the other two here. I noticed an earlier Nissan commercia that seemed to linger on an iPod hooked up the the in-dash Nissan stereo. Last night, I watched two new obnoxious Nissan commercials that again prominently displayed an iPod, this time a video ipod. It might be exactly what you say; but I’m just struck by how these could almost pass for Apple commercials.
Hi Charlie - I bet Apple had as little to do with this as Google did with Pontiac’s spot using a similar brand borrowing technique. In my past experience, Apple is very particular about the brands they’ll work with and an endorsement in this case seems unlikely. I wrote more about this here: http://www.beingpeterkim.com/2006/07/google_pontiac_.html