Video: Nissan GT-R marketing campaign targets Porsche owners

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By Brett Davis | February 22nd, 2011

Nissan launched a rather personal attack at Porsche owners recently with a new marketing campaign. Nissan public relations personnel decided to slap a big Nissan GT-R rear end transparent onto the windscreen of Porsche cars out in public. The drivers then got into their Porsches and simply saw a big GT-R rear end.

The footage below explains it all. But what we want to know is, is it taking it too far?

Has Nissan stepped over the mark here? By attacking Porsche owners personally it could mean Nissan is feeling vulnerable and possibly a little bit afraid of Porsche at the moment, so maybe the company has had to come up with cheap, attention-seeking techniques.

On the contrary, it could be seen as a bit of a laugh that Nissan hopes Porsche will take lightly.

Let’s hope Porsche returns the ball with an equally funny and interesting marketing campaign.

A Porsche Australia spokesman told CarAdvice the company was aware of Nissan’s behaviour overseas but declined to offer any comment on it.

Either way, it’s very Germanic and the reactions are quite funny. Take a look below and tell us what you think.

Moe

Nissan are really up themselves are they, let a GT-R run in the engine for about 50,000Km then in would need to be rebuilt. GTR = Disposable Supercar

Lazy Toyota

Considering how failtastic the GTR was in the recent Bathurst 12 hour (transmission computer in the fridge, really guys? that’s you standard of engineering?) and how the’ve avoided other endurance races like the plague I think it’s time Nissan manned up and proved the GTR is not a one lap wonder.
James Cortez

What an idiot you are Moe. What makes you so sure the engine needs a rebuild after 50000 Km. If you speculate then do not say “would need to…”
Jester

This is BS – this is not a Nissan sponsored move this ad, Nissan never advertised GT-R and never will. The ad quality itself is quite obvious that this is somebody’s amateur attempt at a short “funny” movie, quite pathetic really.

Fiz

I think it is in very poor taste and make Nissan look like fools that they should take such an approach.

Note that they are only advertising 1 statistic. How does the GT-R compare in the many other factors that make a car great or desirable?

I’m guessing the Porche wins in every other way so it is like comparing my Proton Savvy with a Lotus and saying my car is superior because it cost loads less.

Sheer stupidity.
Popeye

Sure it might be a cheeky campaign but I am sure there were more than a few Germans who would not have seen the funny side of this. I am of the opinion that it is not a rival car company’s place to be engaging in such disrespectful publicity stunts. If they wanted to target Porsche then they should have attacked the manufacturer directly and not their customers, Nissan has no right to go anywhere near someone else’s property. Enquiries up 23% but they failed to tell us how many complaints they received.

Jimmy

Well, do you think Nissan would care if they got any complaints when test drives were up by nearly a quarter? I don’t reckon so. This is pretty clever advertising. Very qualitative, aimed directly at the target market. It doesn’t do the Porsche owners’ cars any harm. Fair play to Nissan I say.

BarryHamburger

I don’t buy it. Its an Ad. You honestly believe that? I’m sure the Porsche owners were ‘in on it’ and were persuaded (if at all) to test drive the GT-R before hand, when approached by the marketing team to get permission to plaster that ugly rear end on their windscreen.

into the test drive by the lovely young ladies. This could be a legal disaster

BarryHamburger

sorry last line should be deleted but was trying to say that if they didnt get permission, wouldnt it cause legal problems for nissan?
Jimmy

Do I honestly believe what? I’m not sure what you mean by legal issues – what permission do they need? It’s just like a big flyer. I’ll stand by what I said, I’ve worked in advertising for many years and this is a very clever campaign.
bob

agreed with jimmy, its a clever ad campaign. theres no legal issues. nissan obviously see porsche drivers as potential customers so are targeting them

nissan wouldn’t care about the complaints, they are trying to get attention,

The video is clearly a promo piece for the agency that did it all for nissan.

mmmm

this would not be an ad by Nissan themselves, when the r35 GTR first came out the CEO of Nissan said they will never advertise the GTR.

Shane

Nissan has the equivalent of the Small Persons Complex
Vince

Haha Truth hurts. There is nothing here for the price that will get near the GTR so it’s worth every cent. I’m a Porsche fan don’t get me wrong but unless you are made of money, the GTR is your best bang for buck. Credit where credit is due. Hardly vandalism, more like a creative slap in the face
UMWHAT

i’d still rather have the porsche turbo or a gt2 over gtr any day…seriously who the hell wouldn’t. and well….the GTR is BORING to drive plain and simple

before you say the gtr is cheaper, in australia it’s not cheap

James Cortez

You bet. performance cars in Australia cost much more than in the UK, let alone compared to US & Canada.
http://MARTIN BP legacy 3.0RB

Well, if GTR is really boring to drive feel plain and simple.
It’s kind of compliment, Nissan wanted the super car for everybody.
But then how do you describe your Hyundai?
The pain of existence and shame?

Damian

“GTR is BORING to drive plain and simple”

As opposed to your VS Commodore?

Biker

If you have a sense of humour failure about this, please go to start and collect your Porsche.

I bet people getting upset about this also go for counceling when the mail man delivers junk mail?
Shak

Well, until Porsche come up wit a credible reply, we all know that Nissan will keep doing this. They are acting like the bully in the school yard who knows they are bigger than everyone, and keeps taunting the other kids until they revolt. It is pretty funny though…
G

Porsche shouldn’t even dignify that with a response. If I had a Porsche and they did that to me I’d be livid. Regardless of the eye candy. It just shows a lack of class. Would you rather be associated with the average Tiida driver or something with the pedigree of Porsche?

Damian

“Would you rather be associated with the average Tiida driver or something with the pedigree of Porsche?”

This just demonstrates your inability to objectively assess a car based on its merits.

Going by your logic, you’d rather sleep with Margaret Thatcher than Jennifer Hawkins, because the former has “pedigree”.

Marzabella

Well, back in the day maybe…….

Power is a known aphrodisiac

MattW

lmao
Damian

I’ll give you that one, Marzabella.

Flying High

Well there is no question that the GTR has vastly more road presence than anything but the top end Porsches. If we are talking about the GTR end of the $ scale, Porsche really does not offer a comparison… no wonder enquiries were up 23%.

Even so, I would not want anyone touching my car, even less so by adding an advertisement covering my clean windscreen.

MattW

For me its like cyclists who want to put their hand on your car to balance at traffic lights because they have their feet locked into pedals. One warning, then I get out and push you over

HJP

Nissan GT-R may have trumped Porsche in bang for your bucks for performance cars, however Porsche brand is way superior than Nissan. Not a smart move, Nissan…seriously. Porsche is now infuriated.
http://www.teletech.com.au/ F1MotoGP

If Nissan is so good at the Nurburgring circuit they got a chance on 23 June. Porsche will be there just like every year. 2006,7,8,9 Porsche finished 1st.

Lazy Toyota

They Chickened out last year and ran an old R33 and 370Z L.M.F.A.O.

ouzo

When you want a real car you get a Porsche. When you want a toy car you buy a Nissan. No comparison at all, Porsche is in a league of its own. Anyone driven a Porsche knows the feeling of driving a Porsche.
Anyone driven a Toyota, Honda Civic, or Mitsubishi knows the feeling of Nissan.
GTR is a great car, but honestly what car you want to drive a Nissan or a Porsche.
We all know which is better…..

Flying High

I have driven the lesser Porsches and also some of the Nissan Zed models. Truly, the Porches were nothing to write home about. At this price point, in all likeliness, my money would be on this GTR rather than a Porsche.
Rex

Having driven a Porsche in a video game doesn’t count dude.

Justin

Get over it people, the gtr is faster than a 911 turbo around the nurburgring. There is no statement of cost what-so ever in this ad. A gtr is faster, accept it you elitist

samboy

hahaha…& you’re a gullible fanboy tool, Justin..the nurburgring thing was only the beginning of Nissans grubby & deceitful campaign against Porsche..no independent testers could match Nissans Nurburgring times..merely a publicity stunt & a scam to deceive the young & naive.

Chris MC

A creative targeted marketing campaign that is essentially a more expensive “put a leaflet under your windscreen” tactic. As for the statistics, how did that compare to other periods where no marketing or when other marketing campaigns were employed or even to the previous time last year? What other promotional or pull strategies were used as part of the integrated marketing campaign. Marketers need to justify the dollars they spend and I suspect that the video was produced by the promotional company or ad company to demonstrate their own abilities rather than by Nissan itself.
Nik

I’d take the porcshe any day, gt-r moved into the wrong market and picked the wrong rival.

Jester

completely agree – R34 GT-R is bang on where it belonged, M3 competitor, and slightly more affordable to people that are into GT-R type cars, people with a bit more coin than an Evo or STI driver – now the difference between Evo and Sti and the GT-R is $120,000 extra, that’s well and truly a wrong territory for this kind of a car.

Golfschwein

I’d be FURIOUS! A group of individuals recently went through my street doing something that they thought was pretty harmless and funny: folding everyone’s windscreen wipers up. Some were broken, which was not funny. Mine were forced away from their parked position and against the motor in order for the lifted blades to clear the bonnet, and that resulted in a confused and stubborn wiper motor and chipped paint on the trailing edge of the bonnet. That wasn’t funny either.

Message to Nissan: if it’s not yours, don’t touch it.

Flying High

Just out of interest, how does one clean a Golf windscreen if you cant life the wiper blades off the window without screwing up the wiper motor and chipping paint? Is that a feature?

I guess you must be always shooing away those guys at the street lights waiting to pounce on your windscreen with a squeegee.

Golfschwein

They only lift partially.
Jaded

The manual has more details, but its something like this:
Turn off your car, with the key still in the ignition, press the wiper stalk down once. The wipers will move half way up the screen and will stay there until you start the car. They can then be lifted off the windscreen for cleaning / replacement

Golfschwein

Thanks Jaded. I’ve never seen that. I’m sure to find it in the manual now.

Hung Low

Time to move out of that housing commission estate perhaps?

Golfschwein

I’m actually quite thrilledd that this is the best you could do.

Hung Low

Thanks! you deserve it!

Justin

I’m not a fan boy samboy, I have nothing against either brand, if I had the money I’d have both but I don’t. Every Nissan gtr in the past was aimed at the Porsche 911 as the benchmark. Just because you can’t accept that the gtr is faster doesn’t mean you can run you mouth, take this ad with a grain if salt and just laugh at it

samboy

accepting manufacturers performance claims without independent confirmation is gullible & fanboyish..that’s my point Justin.

BarryHamburger

This campaign is tasteless. No doubt it was set up and permission was sought. No way 21% of those Porsche drivers decided upon a test drive of the GT-R after its hideous rear end was plastered on their windscreen.

Dave S

What they forgot to mention was that 79% of the owners wanted no part of nissan or their GTR.

Was it the guy on pulp fiction who said, “you dont mess with another mans car”

Respect other peoples property.

MB

I don’t really care for Porsche, but I do care about my own property and some idiots going around sticking crap on my car would see them with a problem. I think Nissan, if they organized this, realize it and hence the blonde bimbos who are less likely to be hit.

Apart from that, I like the GTR a lot. It’s an extremely competent vehicle that’s extremely confidence inspiring and for me that’s a big plus. Point, shoot, rinse, repeat. But one of the things that steered me away from it is it’s frailty. The GTR’s engine DOES need to be rebuilt after so many kilometers to replace the plasma coating in the bores. I can’t recall the exact distance but it was way less than 100,000 ks. Actually, I thought it was less than 50, 000. This is a known and Nissan made this freely known when the GTR was released.

Hung Low

It was 100000km and the price of the rebuild is similar to a disc and pad change on a GT2!

UMWHAT

wasnt the turbo S faster than the gtr around the track? lets not even mention the gt2 RS
F1MotoGP

Porsche drivers will never dream of a Nissan, but most Nissan owners dream of a Porsche. Last years FIA GT1 World Championship overall Nissan finished 9th and in manufacturers last.

Hung Low

In more relevance to production trim, the GTR has dominated the Targa Tasmania from the more experienced Porsche team of Jim Richards!

The FIA Gtr uses a Naturally aspirated V8 and with parity racing, its a team game not necessary the type of car!

Factual

Targa Tassie is not relevant because the race has as much to do with drivers and navigators as it does with cars. Also, Targa rules allow a certain amount of mods, so those cars aren’t stock.
Back to back tests of GTR vs Porsche, conducted independently by magazines / racing car drivers, has provided the following results:
Top Gear: GTR 1:19.7, GT2 1:19.5
Top Gear Aust: GTR 1:07.06, GT2 1:06.92
Drivers Republic at the Nurburgring: GTR 7:55, GT2 7:49
CAR at the Nurburgring: 7:51, GT3 7:49
Motor Mag at Wakefield: GTR 1:05.8, GT3 1:05.1
Motor Mag at Winton: 1:33.7, GT2 1:32.1
All these tests were conducted by the same drivers in the same conditions. It really is comparing apples with apples.

F1MotoGP

…and the 24H Spa result for the last few years

2001 Chrysler Viper GTS-R
2002 Chrysler Viper
2003 Porsche 996 GT3-RS
2004 Ferrari 550 Maranello
2005 Maserati MC12
2006 Maserati MC12
2007 Corvette C6R
2008 Maserati MC12
2009 Corvette Z06
2010 Porsche 997 RSR
JP

If I owned a porsche & returned to where it was parked to find a car company sponsored “prank” underway, well it’d be worth the trip to Nissan headoffice to burst in on the CEO to explain exactly my thoughts on the matter……
You wouldn’t make an appointment to see him him/her. You’d just walk in off the street straight into their office. The same way they just decided to involve themselves in your life.

And in defence of Golfschwein, you probably don’t find too many Mark V Golfs in housing commission estates…..

Certainly both of my Mark 6s don’t reside there…..
Ben

@UMWHAT GTR is still cheaper than a porsche in Austrlia

regardless of which is better I know EVERYTIME I see a Porsche 997 we all know it cost more than a GTR. And its there money and they can do what they like with. Knowing they can buy a GTR anyday. If it was reversed some people could only afford a GTR and not stretch the 70k more.

Damian

If one can afford to spend $160k on a car, I highly doubt that another $70k becomes “unaffordable” all of a sudden…

MF

Its possible. Think on the smaller scale, some people can only afford a $16,000 Mazda 2 but not another $7K for a Mazda 3. On the bigger scale, some people can afford a $1.6 mil house but not a 2.3 mil one. I bought a Jazz Vti, and i absolutely did not have enough spare money for a civic Vti-L.

http://driversworld.livejournal.com/ Driver

ha love it.
Joel W

this arguing is pointless its obvious that yes, the GTR and the Porsche are in the same league, the Porsche 911 has always been the benchmark for the GTR, but Porsche have taken some ideas off nissan in some of their newer models.

there is obviously an age gap in the market, older people rather porsches and younger people rather nissans, porsche is a classic design that people have grown up with and it will always be appreciated, Nissan have only been making cars like this since the late 80s early 90s and the GTR is the car of the current generation.

my dad and i have the same taste and views in just about every car… but dad would rather the porsche and i would take the nissan.
F1MotoGP

Nissan is a good car but have a look on You tube Mark Webber and his 911 GT2 RS. He picked the Porsche and he KNOWS how to drive.
geezerman

this whole campaign really burns me up!,…DON’T MESS WITH A MAN’S[OR WOMAN'S!]CAR! PERIOD!,..very sleazy and actually pitiful on nissan’s part…and they had to use 2 bimbettes ’cause they knew that way they wouldn’t get shot if caught!,…as if any 911 owner would seriously consider the gtr after a pathetic stunt like that!,…fact is they AREN’T!,..that’s why nissan is having to resort to such desperate tactics,…NO ONE IS BUYING THEIR CAR!,…they sell by the literal handful,…and i fully expect that nissan will kill the gtr off pretty soon,…the fact is nissan bit off more than they bargained for with porsche, and never did convince the wealthy buying public to “switch” to a gtr,…rich folks didn’t even consider it,…a few young ones did,…but not enuf to pose any threat to porsches pre-eminence as THE bencmark soprtscar,…so,..bad form,nissan!