Will Nissan spare us the cheesy car ads?

Regarding last week’s cover story What’s Driving Nissan?, it seems we may as well stick to the English term ‘story telling’ when it comes to the automotive sector, as it seems just as alien to some brands as the Japanese word kotozukuri.

The largesse of automotive marketing budgets (Honda aside) has seen campaigns revolve around each model in isolation, with little to link the models other than the same formulaic cheesy car adverts with pumping sound tracks.

It’s important to distinguish models to drive sales, but when it comes to luxury marques, the heart often rules consumers’ heads.

All too often we still see isolated, uninspiring campaigns. And when a marque does try to break the mould it’s generally an ill-conceived attempt to tap into social media channels or ‘brand ambassadors’.

Nissan’s luxury brand Infiniti is in a unique position. With so little heritage it is a glass half full/half empty scenario. I look forward to seeing if the commitment to story- telling is here to stay. It is saying the right things, with a blank page to write on, and is making the right moves behind the scenes.

Now it’s time to follow through.

Tim Hill, development director, The Brand Union