Nissan to mix media and commerce to deepen bond between sales and opinion
Nissan is using personalisation to power its e-commerce efforts, concentrating on linking overall opinion about the brand and its cars to sales.
The business hopes that by understanding the dynamic between online chatter and sales it can better monetise its online fans. There are revenue opportunities to be mined from the emotional link between Nissan’s brand and consumers, according to head of digital for Nissan in Africa, Middle East & India David Parkinson, as people migrate to purchase via digital and mobile channels.
Speaking to The Drum, Parkinson, one of the judges for The Drum's 2015 Mobile on Marketing Awards (MOMAs) said “overall” opinion and sales power are intrinsically in our strategies. Social has made it easier for people to ask for opinions from the brand, he added, which is why “we need to be present there” – to have those conversations as well as raise awareness.
“We are starting to really look deeper at the relationship between overall opinion and sales, as well as linking the two together,” said Parkinson. “So while it’s obvious that more PR and more marketing leads to sales when done right we also think that many other things that we do, as a company, help push sales – brand opinion, through our actions, is a key part of that thinking.”
The key to mastering this way of thinking is to learn how to change opinion of your brand when people get so many messages thrown at them, added Parkisnon. Nissan is some way to achieving this as evidenced by its famous reply to Kim Kardashian’s break the internet request and generating real-time content to congratulate the Royal baby announcement in less than seven minutes – both making people positively aware of us in a brand in a non “salesy” manner
Around 80 to 90 per cent of car buyers shop online first, Nissan has said, yet compared to previous generations highly sought after millennials are not buying cars as much. It is why the car maker wants all its marketing to work toward lifting its shopping experience above rivals, believing that customers will note the difference and consequently recommend the brand and its cars.
Parkinson said the company continues to use key media channels, online and offline, as well as “continuously review new ones”. For instance, Nissan is looking for the “right way” to use Snapchat before “we jump in and lose credibility”.
Social media is key to the brand’s plan to drive engagement around live moments, dovetailing with its burgeoning sponsorship roster that includes the UEFA Champions League and the US version of The Voice.
Nissan overhauled its agency roster in 2013 to better localise global creative. Like other global players, the company’s need to balance both prioritise stems from a need to make marketing more cost-effective in multiple markets in a more integrated fashion.