Digital devices’ command over our lives has become a theme of late in advertising, with marketers reminding us that it’s important to shut down every now and then, or at least during the holidays.
But when the entire world seems to be powered on, the Nissan brand says it’s here to help you deal with some of the dangers that come hand in hand with digital distraction. A new spot created out of agency TBWA/Chiat/Day New York and directed by MJZ’s Tom Kuntz depicts a dystopian metropolis where everyone’s eyes are fixed on their phones.
It was created under Allyson Witherspoon, Nissan’s new North American vice president of marketing communications and media. Sales of the Nissan Rogue were down 19 percent to 175,267 units through the first half of the year, according to the Automotive News Data Center.
In the spot, an army of techno-focused zombies cross streets en masse, a newscaster live on the air stares at her tiny screen, thumbs typing away, a toddler in a stroller and kids hanging off a jungle gym are blind to the blue sky and foliage around them, heads aimed at their tiny phones.
Their misdirected focus is a recipe for disaster -- a bus driver veers off course, a mom pushing her child in a stroller crosses the street without checking oncoming traffic. Only one family, sitting in their Nissan Rogue, remains awake to the environs around them, and fortunately, so is their car. Its various safety features help steer away from the swerving bus, and stop it just as that mother and child step into the crosswalk.
A voice-over reads “This is protection in a world of distraction. This is Nissan intelligent mobility.”
The spot is set to the track “Johny Says Stay Cool” by Babe Rainbow.
