A PIONEERING new media campaign promoting Nissan’s new Micra city car via social media sites Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest has reached an incredible 30 million people in just six weeks.
The pan-European #MicraAttitude campaign, aimed primarily at women, invited participants to create pin boards celebrating ‘Micra Attitude’ and promote them via the three leading social media sites.
Run across 16 countries, 25.5 million people were reached via Facebook and 4.1 million via Twitter with almost half a million views of 5,000 photos ‘pinned’ by participants on Pinterest.
With a surprise ‘goodie box’ worth 200 Euros on offer for 45 winning entries, the #MicraAttitude competition asked entrants to post images that reflected their attitude to life with themes including gorgeous gadgets, funky accessories, inspirational quotes and people, daring destinations and energising activities. Every entry was tagged with #MicraAttitude, ensuring followers were alerted every time a new photograph was posted.
David Parkinson, general manager for social and digital engagement for Nissan in Europe, said: ‘We wanted to discover what constitutes ‘‘The Micra Attitude” … and we were overwhelmed by the response.
‘We were delighted to see a number of committed influencers who effectively took our campaign and made it their own, extolling the virtues of new Micra to their friends, followers and fans. When it comes to cost-effective promotion, there’s nothing to beat social media.’
The campaign was also designed to discover how women regard their cars and learn about their aspirations and expectations. The messages coming back showed that it’s not just men who regard cars as objects of desire but that women can be inspired by them too.
‘For today’s woman, a car is an expression of their individuality, a reflection of their personality and, of course, gives them the freedom to be independent,’ said Sanka De Silva, Micra product manager.
‘We discovered they love accessories and to personalise their car and that they are totally in tune with technology. They find the connectivity offered by New Micra really makes their lives easier allowing them to tackle the day ahead with style, intelligence and confidence.’
The countries which engaged most strongly with the campaign were the UK, Portugal and Hungary, but there were hundreds of entries from right across Europe.
New Micra arrives in showrooms at the end of this month. It has a brand new exterior design and an enhanced interior plus smart technologies including the latest NissanConnect system with a larger touchscreen. It also incorporates Google Send-To-Car technology that allows an owner to plan a journey on their PC or tablet at home or in the office and then send the instructions to the car ahead of the journey.
Ahead of the game
‘Social media is an exciting, new and largely misunderstood form of engagement with potential customers. Nissan was one of the first car companies to appreciate its potential, however, and the success of the #MicraAttitude shows how far ahead of the game we are,’ said Parkinson.
Although the figures for the campaign’s reach, page impressions, shares and likes are hugely impressive, perhaps the most important element is the hundreds who have been inspired by the campaign to go directly to the Nissan product website to find out more about New Micra.
‘If just a small percentage of those interested become New Micra owners, then the power of hugely cost effective campaigns using nothing but social media – the modern-day equivalent of word of mouth – is beyond doubt,’ said Parkinson.