Nissan ad capitalizes on Star Wars with Rogue tie-in

October 27, 2016 01:00 AM

The ad shows a woman driving the 2017 Rogue through a computer-generated simulation of a Star Wars battle.

NEW YORK -- Nissan’s new Rogue One: A Star Wars Story movie marketing campaign for the facelifted 2017 Nissan Rogue is the brand’s biggest campaign ever, and the most integrated across all promotional channels, said Jeremy Tucker, vice president, marketing communications and media, Nissan North America.

“It’s not just marketing,” Tucker said at a press preview of a 30-second spot called “Battle-Tested” here Wednesday night. “We are blowing it away digitally, socially, every way,” including Star Wars events at Nissan dealerships through the holidays, he said.

“Everybody else is going to be doing Santa Claus. Our dealers are going to be doing the Rogue One Star Wars Limited Edition vehicle,” he told Automotive News at the Manhattan debut. The limited-edition version gets special badging.

He said the fact that the vehicle and the new Star Wars movie share the Rogue name was strictly a coincidence, but one that Nissan jumped on right away. Nissan is also preparing a 60-second Star Wars ad, to be shown at next month’s Los Angeles auto show.

“Once they announced the name of the movie it was an easy call. It’s a natural synergy,” Tucker said.

The movie, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, debuts Dec. 16, while Nissan’s 30-second ad breaks on Monday during "Monday Night Football."

Tech tie-in

The ad will play up the safety technology used in the facelifted 2017 Rogue. The vehicle is reaching showrooms now, with new front and rear fascias and LED headlights. New safety features include forward emergency braking with pedestrian detection, which is optional on less-expensive trim and equipment levels.

The feature uses radar to sense an impending collision and apply the brakes, and an optical camera specifically to pick out pedestrians.

The sponsorship would seem like a natural for Nissan, which has been enjoying strong U.S. sales of its Rogue compact crossover.

The ad shows a woman driving the 2017 Rogue through a computer-generated simulation of a Star Wars battle, featuring the movie’s lumbering, elephant-like walkers, zooming fighter aircraft, blazing small arms and lots of explosions.

The ad then demonstrates the crossover’s real-life forward emergency braking feature with pedestrian detection, as an anthropomorphic robot ambles into the road in front of the Nissan Rogue.

The vehicle comes to a stop, and the robot slowly turns its head to look at the driver, as if to say, “What are you looking at?”

One movie

The Rogue One relationship is limited to the single movie, from now through April 2017, Tucker said. In answer to a question, he said jokingly that “Revenge of the Titan” had a nice ring to it, referring to the Nissan Titan pickup.

Tucker joined Nissan in 2014. He was vice president for strategic marketing with Disney Consumer Products when Disney acquired the Star Wars movie franchise.