The Campaign

-The world’s longest and toughest golf tournament proves Nissan’s X-Trail Hybrid’s performance. We hosted the XTREME GOLF CUP, the world’s longest and toughest golf tournament with 18 holes spread across Japan. The players used the X-Trail Hybrid as golf carts while playing golf in all sorts of extreme environments such as deserts, cliffs, and dense forests. The utterly unimaginable sport tournament demonstrated and conveyed the unique product benefits of the X-Trail Hybrid.

Creative Execution

1. Announcement of the golf tournament/Website We first involved the management group of a regular golf tournament to establish official rules for this new sport. Based on these rules, we created and released a concept movie on our specially created website. We advertised for participants of the event. 2. Selection of participants From among over 3,000 applicants, we held tryout sessions to select the final participants. The selection criteria were: advanced golf skills as well as mental and physical toughness to drive through the off-roads. 3. XTREME GOLF CUP nation-wide broadcasting The tournament took place over 4 days, completing 18 holes located across the Japanese archipelago. Scenes of the tournament were broadcasted nationwide on specialized golf channels, and was reported real time on twitter. 4. Documentary film Finally a full-length documentary of the golf tournament was released online which amplified online together with various PR activities around it.

Results

We managed to reach a broad target through a ‘new branded sport content’ of golf. As a result, we successfully demonstrated the X-Trail Hybrid’s fuel efficiency and changed previously held perceptions. [PERCEPTION CHANGE] Pre vs Post Campaign (from May 2015 to September 2015)X-TRAIL’s fuel efficiency image improved by 10.4pt Pre vs Post Campaign (from May 2015 to September 2015) X-TRAIL’s purchase intention increased by 6% [GAINED PR] ? Over 20 Japanese and Overseas TV stations picked up the event as sports news ? Approx 450 Japanese and Overseas print and online media featured the news ? Gained \130million worth of PR exposure ? [SALES] ?after the campaign, increase sales by 163% (from 4,248 on May 2015 to 6,944 on September 2015) [TOURNAMENT] ?The Official Association has been set up. ?Total Traveling: 1,934km / Total hole yards: 6,013 yards / Winners score:+103

1. DIRECT MESSAGE We sent out invitations to our target in their late 30s and 50s who love golf. This outrageous golf tournament announcement received a high response rate far beyond that of regular car advertising. 2. DIRECT RESPONCE Our call out for participants gained huge attention. The final number of applicants reached 3,000, which was 10 times more than expected. 3. DIRECT ENGAGEMENT We offered our targets the experience to drive across Japan in the X-Trail Hybrid while playing 18 holes. This created a powerful direct engagement to experience first-hand, the run-through performance and fuel efficiency.

- Disrupt conventional golf competition to disrupt SUV’s negative image 1. TARGET “Active golf-loving males” The target audience is people in their late 30s to 50s. By far the most popular sport among this age group is golf. As they go out and play golf so frequently, they had the tendency to avoid SUVs which were notoriously known for their bad gas mileage. 2. PRODUCT “SUV that’s overcome its Achilles’ heel of gas mileage” Nissan X-Trail is the one and only authentic SUV with a Hybrid engine. Together with its off-road capabilities, its fuel efficiency was largely improved. 3. COMMUNICATION STRATEGY “Prove the performance in the world of golf loved by our targets” The players would travel over 2,000 kilometers across Japan to play on the toughest golf course specially created off-roads. Our idea was to let this golf tournament alone highlight the off-road capabilities and fuel efficiency of the X-Trail Hybrid.