nissan juke social experiment

From Concept To Production: 2017 Nissan Juke

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It was a risky move on Nissan's part, but those who never take risks automatically eliminate the chances of success (or failure). In 2009, Nissan revealed an odd-looking concept called the Qazana at that year's Geneva Motor Show. Choosing a European show, perhaps the continent's most exclusive, to unveil this radical small crossover design study was an interesting decision. The behind the concept was for it to become a baby brother to the highly popular Qashqai crossover.

Little did we know at the time that the subcompact crossover segment would grow the way it has, and it was the production version of the Qazana that helped get it into gear. The production-spec 2011 Nissan Juke featured a slightly watered down version of the concept's bold front-end styling. The front lights, as Nissan describes, are split into two distinct elements. Thin slashes contain the running lights and turn indicators, while the main and dipped beams are mounted lower on the nose. The latter were also inspired by the auxiliary lamps fitted to rally cars from the sixties and seventies. A classic case of love it or hate it styling, but it was (and still is) unique.

Out back, the taillights have a boomerang shape, similar to those found on the 370Z coupe and roadster. Unlike typical crossovers at the beginning of the decade, Nissan was clearly going for a sportier look and attitude with the Juke, which turned out to be a smart move. The only other more dramatically styled small crossover at the time was the Mini Countryman, which cost quite a bit more. Crossovers generally looked more like scaled-down versions of larger, SUV-inspired ones. But the Juke shattered all of those so-called design rules. The big question was whether the public, especially in the US, was ready to drive around town in something that sort of had a frog face appearance. They were.

The Nissan Juke quickly became a success as sales exceeded expectations. Not bad for a relatively small crossover that sacrificed cargo space for design. Like the Qazana, the Juke features prominent wheel arches and a high waistline. The concept's suicide doors were eliminated, replaced by conventionally-hinged doors with rear handles located in the C-pillars in order to further the Juke's coupe-like appearance. Having the door handles located here was not anything new for Nissan, with the original 1985 Pathfinder featuring this feature as well. Nissan designers wanted the Juke to be an urban crossover which, roughly a decade ago, was a relatively new term. An urban crossover? What is that, exactly? In a nutshell, it's the Juke.

Although its main focus is design, the Juke was built on Nissan's global B platform, which also underpinned the Versa and now discontinued Cube. An off-roader it was never intended to be, but it surely looked cool in cities. The B segment in Europe was selling extremely well at the time, and Europeans have long been known to appreciate designs Americans often find weird. Styled at Nissan's London design center and further refined at its counterpart studio in Japan, the Juke was a multi-national effort, which makes sense considering it's a global vehicle. However, Nissan USA was not initially thrilled with the Juke, and rightly so given Americans' styling tastes.

Ultimately the decision was made to sell the Juke in the US as an experiment of sorts: Was there a new sub-segment to be found in the already crowded crossover field? Turns out the answer was a resounding 'yes.' Compared to the styling of other mainstream small crossovers at the time, mainly the Ford Escape, Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4 and Hyundai Tucson, the Nissan Juke was a real stand out. It really did look like a futuristic concept car. Powered by a turbocharged 1.6-liter inline-four with 188 hp and 177 lb-ft of torque, power is sent to either the front or all four wheels through a CVT. Okay, so it does have optional all-wheel drive, but it's really more appropriate for snow-covered city streets than off-pavement trails.

Interior space is sufficient enough, but, like we said, was sacrificed for styling. Interior styling is also kind of funky, mainly thanks to the body-colored center console. A Juke Nismo appeared for 2015 and was given a number of styling and performance upgrades. Then came the famed Juke R , a car created when engineers somehow managed to stuff the GT-R supercar's 3.8-liter twin-turbo V6 into the tiny crossover's engine bay. Rated at 545 hp, only 23 examples of the Juke R were made. For 2015 the Juke was given a mild refresh but its overall styling remain largely untouched. Today, the Juke has reached the end of the line, as 2017 was its final model year.

It'll be replaced very soon by the somewhat more conventionally styled Nissan Kicks . There's no denying the Nissan Juke played a pivotal role in expanding the subcompact crossover segment while also encouraging Nissan, as well as competitors, to take design chances more often.

• EXPERIMENTS

Nissan JUKE Built To Thrill

Thrill Laboratory worked with TBWA/London and Nissan Europe to develop a brand activation campaign supported by the work of Thrill Laboratory.

Visitors to our Nissan website discover their very own Thrill Test Score, and enter a competition to participate in one of a series of thrilling experiments featuring the JUKE. A series of short video documentaries follow the Thrill Engineer, conducting experiments and associated live events. Experimental data appear in the videos as real time graphic visualisations, developed and produced by Thrill Laboratory, working with Horizon . Results were presented to Nissan Europe’s design team to help improve the thrilling automotive experience.

We also partnered with the Adventure Film Festival as part of the campaign.

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ADVERTISING

DEFY ORDINARY

Description

Stepping into a new era of daringness, Nissan Europe, in collaboration with Nissan United, proudly reveals its new “Defy Ordinary” mindset through a 360 pan-European campaign for the new generation of the Juke.

Born out of a challenger mindset in Japan, Nissan has always been the brand that dares to do what others don’t. Its new claim, "Defy Ordinary", is a statement of its commitment to push boundaries and challenge convention. The new Juke launch campaign will be the first to embody this new brand direction, reflected in all future brand communications. Since its launch in 2011, Juke has been a revolution, pioneering the now very popular compact SUV segment with its ground-breaking coupé crossover body type and distinctive design. Twelve years later, Juke continues to stand out, ranking among the top 10 best-selling cars in the UK in 2023 and again in 2024. Now, it returns with a vibrant yellow color that catches attention at every turn. The most significant change of the car is on the interior, featuring new leather on the steering wheel and seats, along with a new 12.3-inch screen that enhances comfort and connectivity on every journey. Above all, the Juke is back with its iconic bold and daring attitude.

To communicate the bold and daring nature of this car, we expect nothing less than a bold and daring publicity. A digital and social-first campaign also sets a new standard for the brand’s content production, with more than 200 assets created to announce the arrival of the car.

The idea for the campaign embraces that brave spirit by taking an unconventional direction. Instead of shying away from the polarizing nature of the model – it is placed at the heart of the campaign. In a fresh and unexpected approach for an automotive commercial, we will follow the car as it cruises through the city, with two voice-overs in the back debating on whether they love or love to hate the car, playing with its divisive nature. To go further and stay true to the “Defy Ordinary” mindset all the way, Nissan has planned a digital-first campaign with punchy and dynamic assets that are sure to reach and captivate a younger and more connected audience. The key features of the car will be presented in content aligned with the latest social media visual trends. In order to always keep an element of surprise and freshness, more than 200 assets were developed in partnership with META to be delivered and refreshed over time.

The campaign started in April across more than 15 markets in Europe and includes TVC, online video, social content, print, out-of-home and more.

This professional campaign titled 'DEFY ORDINARY' was published in Multinational Europe and United Kingdom in May, 2024. It was created for the brand: Nissan, . This Integrated medium campaign is related to the Automotive industry and contains 1 media asset. It was submitted 6 months ago.

NISSAN JUKE – SOME LOVE IT SOME LOVE TO HATE IT Client : Nissan AMIEO Client : Coralie Musy, Anne-Flore Betbeder, Dominique Li-Pat-Yuen, Romain Bezelga Product : Juke President : Ewan Veitch Account Management : Stephane Boutier, Eduardo Crepaldi, Lea Maalouli, Harmonie Cifrian, Sarah Hoffmann, Amandine Brugier Planning : Tito Favino, Jeremy Masselis, Lina Petitjean Media : Stephane Hue, Anouar Zaiane, Antonin Jorneau, Thomas Loiseau, Le-Chau-An Nguyen Data : Kateryna Kolodnytska, Sweta Krishnasankar ECDs : Phillipe Rachel, Carl Harborg Creation : Italo Canepa, Javier Pizarro Perez Creative Producer : Benoit Duchemin Agency PostProduction Manager : Cécile Talmon Post Production House : Mathematic Production House : Wanda Director : Markus Walter DOP : Ottar Gudnasson Executive Producer : Fiona Bartel Line Producer : Yannick Le Bot

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JUKE VS YOU

The campaign.

To show just how captivating the Juke was, the social experiment put together two eye-catching subjects—the Juke and a mirror. Mall-goers passing by the installation were challenged to either look at the Juke, or at themselves. It was essentially a battle between the “Juke vs. You.” Hidden cameras were placed inside the car and the mirror installation. These were used to record the glances of thousands of passers-by who looked at either of the two subjects throughout the entire day. After ten hours, the Juke garnered more glances than the mirror, proving that it truly was a standout. The social experiment was documented in a web film, and posted on Nissan’s Facebook page.

Creative Execution

Hidden cameras were placed inside the car and the mirror installation. These were used to record the glances of thousands of passers-by who looked at either of the two subjects throughout the entire day. After ten hours, the Juke garnered more glances than the mirror, proving that it truly was a standout. The social experiment was documented in a web film, and posted on Nissan’s social media.

After the ten-hour activation, the Juke got the attention of 4,633 mall-goers, over two times more than the mirror, which received 2, 655 looks. This proved that the Juke was more eye-catching than millennials themselves. Its online film also stood out, becoming the second most viewed content on Nissan’s FB page. - 28% View Through Rate VS 20% Global Average Online mentions for the Juke reached its highest during the activation period, and reached an awareness score of 64.1, 14.1% more than the goal. And best of all, Juke sales shot up to 2,582 units, 143% of the target.

The Juke’s target market are the millennials: style-conscious individuals who take pride in their looks. In fact, studies show that they look at the mirror 23 times in a day. We tapped into their need for self-validation through an interactive social experiment that presented them with two choices—to either look at an eye-catching car, or look at themselves. To gather unbiased results, the activation needed to look like the usual car mall display. And since thousands of people would pass by, it was also important to use technology that would accurately record the number of glances from every passer-by.

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Showing how embarrassing driving can be without Nissan's technology.

Project: Nissan JUKE 2018 Brand:  Nissan Agency:  Digitas LBi Role:  Creative Direction Motion:  Iggy Pacanowski Year:  2018

"Never Compromise on Technology" was the big idea to launch the new Nissan JUKE. The campaign highlighted the high-tech 360° bird's-eye view parking cameras and an immersive sound system from Bose.

Our take in social media was to create a little social experiment, asking Europeans to share embarrassing stories of when they didn't have the best tech in their cars — in other words, what happened when they didn't have 360° cameras to help them park or when their sound system was crap.

Have you ever caused a traffic jam while trying to park? Or have you ever given up on parking and let someone else do it for you? So embarrassing, right?

Things can also get tricky when you don't have a truly immersive sound system in your car, especially when someone else starts to sing along and ruins your song.

Always-On We also provided the different Nissan markets in Europe a flexible framework to display relatable data of when people compromised on technology.

Made for social From creating a dynamic caption system for mediums where people watch content without sound to flexible formats that take advantage of mobile screens. 

© 2024 Claudio Eduardo Vieira

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