Setting the scene

Nissan came to us with a petrolhead’s nightmare. Nismo – the performance arm of the business – might be a surefire way to give a Nissan model a high-octane boost, but it was giving the Nissan brand a serious headache. Customers didn’t understand the relationship between the two brands, and Nissan couldn’t leverage its true value in the cars.

So, the petrolhead’s nightmare: Do we leave Nismo as it is, knowing it’s underperforming? (So that’ll be a “no” for a bunch of guys in the business of performance.) Do we junk it? (Again, lose the potential to tell serious powerful stories? Have you met these guys?). So, we suggested a gear shift. What if we supercharged it? 

Working out who they were and how to prove it

Sold. We set to work exploring how we could take Nismo’s high-octane, high-performance reputation as the secret ingredient in a seriously supercharged Nissan and use it to bring a unique experience to dealerships, customers, and even team members. Our creative direction inspired Nissan to see the value of Nismo and investing in the sub brand to make it a power play at Nissan.

Since then, electrification, new legislation and ultimately the move away from the extreme supercar, has seen the Nismo brand withdraw from the UK, but trust us, if you ever meet someone with a Nissan GT-R Nismo, beg them to take you out for a spin.