Would you buy a car from C3-PO? Nissan is hoping Millennials and more ‘classic’ Star Wars fans will at least think about it long enough to look at its new models. In the lead-up to Star Wars: The Last Jedi hitting cinemas on December 14th Nissan’s Star Wars tie-in is making the leap to hyperspace.
The 2017 Los Angeles Auto Show is the perfect venue for Nissan to roll out its tricked-out Star Wars: The Last Jedi-inspired models. The glowing red-and-black, sharp-winged 2018 Nissan Maxima was inspired by Kylo Ren’s TIE silencer. One of five Last Jedi-themed Nissans at the LA Auto Show, Nissan is hoping it will help people understand semi-authonomous driving assists.
“People understand drones and force fields,” Jeremy Tucker, VP of marketing, communications, and media for Nissan USA, tells The Verge. “People talk about brakes and airbags, but cars offer so much more these days.”
Don’t miss the Maxima Kylo Ren’s red underside lighting that mimics the character’s pulsating lightsaber. Its “mask” is a single block of milled aluminum.
“Kylo Ren is such an iconic character and such a badass in the Star Wars universe,” Tucker says. “We told the stories of our models, and they told us the story they’re telling in the movie.”
Or there’s the over-the-top 2018 Nissan Rogue, designed to evoke Poe Dameron’s X-wing fighter (and some laughs). It was, by all accounts, an outstanding effort by Nissan.
A related online sweepstakes is a call of duty: “Welcome, Pilot! Are you First Order, or Resistance? Customize your Rogue, Rogue Sport, TITAN or Altima in Nissan’s exclusive Star Wars: The Last Jedi vehicle customizer, and show pride for your faction. Then, share your craft on social media, and recruit your friends!”
The customization feature on Nissan’s Star Wars-themed website allows users to customize a Star Wars Nissan model and enter to win a free car. And it’s not all online; Nissan is also offering a “Droid Repair Bay” virtual reality experience at select dealerships in California, Texas, Connecticut, New York and Utah. Nissan is also running TV ads in heavy rotation in the U.S.
This is not Nissan’s first partnership with Star Wars. Last year, the auto brand teamed up with the appropriately named Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Nissan debuted that partnership at the 2016 LA Auto Show, as it happens, along with a custom Rogue model and a stormtrooper escort.
This year, Nissan’s Star Wars marketing is bigger and bolder. The online and in-dealership VR and highly customized LA Auto Show concept vehicles prove the brand is not going to just make weak connections between it and one of history’s most popular global franchises.
“We weren’t just going slap a logo on it. Star Wars has millions of fans, and if you piss them off, you’re done,” Nissan’s Tucker told the Hollywood Reporter.
But the increased effort also may have been inspired by the success of the Rogue One promotion. In October, Aditya Jairaj, Nissan America’s senior marketing manager for marketing crossovers including Rogue and Rogue Sport, told us in a Q&A that the brand created a great deal of awareness with the partnership and, consequently, Nissan had “the best December ever for Rogue sales—about 40,000 units, after the Rogue One campaign.”
Of course, Nissan does not expect Star Wars-branded cars to become its new bread and butter. But the brand’s eye-popping creations are drawing attention to the automaker’s other Millennial-friendly new models, such as the new 2018 Nissan Kicks and its all-new 2018 Nissan Leaf electric vehicle.
Vigorously leveraging its connection to Star Wars may give the automaker an opening to introduce the brand to young fans of the force.
Nissan, by the way, is by no stretch the only Star Wars marketing partner. Cargo Cosmetics, for one, has teamed with the franchise and is, noteworthy enough, featuring the late Carrie Fischer in its marketing. Just the thing to get gussied up when checking out Nissan’s Star Wars mini-fleet at the LA Auto Show.
And for those who don’t get a chance to check out Nissan’s ‘Last Jedi’ cars in LA, they’ll be coming to the Detroit Auto Show in January.
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