Jeremy Tucker, VP de Comunicaciones de Mercadeo y Medios de Nissan Norteamérica
The automaker Nissan is carrying out the biggest investment in the history of college sports, to sponsor the championships of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The deal includes sports sponsorship for 100 colleges and universities across the U.S., for the next four years. This agreement assures the company a dominant presence in the campus of 64 out of 65 universities that belong to the Power Five Conference of football. The only one that is not part of the deal is Michigan State, that has had a long-standing partnership with General Motors. “Nissan will have a presence at all sporting events, 11 months out of the year. Nearly every week that college sports are played we’ll have something going on on campus unique to Nissan” said Jeremy Tucker, VP of Marketing Communications and Media at Nissan North America. The stadiums will display ads for the company and 1.100 local dealers will participate in the campaign. Sponsored scholarships and sports equipment will also be included. The tailor-made association with each school was orchestrated by OMD and Zimmerman structured the activations and the job with local dealers. “It has been an enormous effort for both agencies” said Tucker. In the future, TBWA/Chiat/Day will be involved in the advertising messaging. To help celebrate the new school sports spirit, Nissan created an augmented-reality Diehard Fan app that gives fans the possibility to virtually paint their faces for games using their phone or tablet.
