Nissan campaign creates ‘electrified art’ in the metaverse

Nissan has stepped into the metaverse with the help of TBWA\London and Meta Creative Shop, in a campaign promoting the all-electric Nissan Ariya.

The car brand challenged five artists to create pieces of artwork depicting the Ariya in five locations around the UK.

Retro Manni was handed Birmingham, Tishk Barzanji worked on London, Janice Leung handled Leeds, Neil Keating took on Liverpool and Antidote had a Manchester remit.

The artists were briefed on the project and told to “showcase an electrified interpretation of how the Nissan Ariya is a ‘ray of hope’ within each of their cities”.

Each artwork is influenced by the Japanese-inspired design of the Ariya but the artists were encouraged to use their own personal style and story in their pieces.

The images will be shown in digital and on large-format outdoor sites while also presenting consumers with a QR code.

Barry Christie, global creative lead at Meta Creative Shop, said: “With the Nissan Electric Lab you can get really close to the new Nissan Ariya and the campaign artists' electrified artwork. In fact, you can literally step into it with a Meta Quest headset for a fully immersive experience or explore it in 3D on your mobile or computer.”

Car lovers will be able to enter the metaverse using the QR code and experience the artwork in a truly immersive way.

Users who scan the QR code will then be directed to the electrified art landing page, where they can start to explore the room.

Instructions will be given on how to connect two electric power leads together to open up the artwork portal and move around the electrified city.

The Ariya will descend onto a platform in the centre of the room, while users can explore each piece of art.

Nic Thomas, Nissan GB marketing director, said: “The Japanese timeless design and innovation of the Ariya allows us to influence and explore new ways of communicating with our customers and I am very excited to be able to promote Nissan as one of the first car manufacturers to utilise the metaverse in this immersive and inclusive manner.”

Thomas added: “This is the start for us to continue to explore and test and learn new ways of bringing our electrified brand stories to life and showcase our own product innovations in an environment that fits with our innovative leadership brand values.”

The campaign will run for two months.

John Kirkham and Heber Ramos, copywriter and art director at TBWA\London, said: “‘Electrified art’ is a campaign all about innovation, design and electrification. We worked with digital artists across the UK, asking them to reimagine their home cities electrified in the future.

“We broke the format of conventional car adverts with fresh, art gallery inspired out-of-home and online creative.”