Nissan ME among Top Record Breaking Brands at Festival of Media 2014 Global Awards

‘Patrol Challenge’ Shortlisted for World Accolades

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (14 April, 2014): In a milestone for the region’s automotive industry, Nissan’s ‘Patrol Challenge’ media campaign has been recognized as one of the world’s top ‘Record-Breaking Brands’ at the prestigious Festival of Media Global Awards held in Rome last night.

The Nissan Patrol has a rich heritage in the Middle East region, as one of the world’s most iconic off-road vehicles. In order to build brand awareness in the Middle East for the tremendous vehicle, the 2012 Patrol Challenge was launched. An ATL campaign and an engaging online competition were executed, in order to educate consumers about the Patrol’s capabilities, and also to give them the opportunity to set challenges for the “Hero of all Terrain in life”.

The unique challenge saw an unmodified Nissan Patrol haul a 170-ton cargo plane for more than 50 yards. The Nissan Patrol, unlike any other SUV vehicle won the Guinness World Record title for ‘Heaviest aircraft pulled by a production car’. The initiative was extremely well received by the public, and it inspired a great deal of excitement and respect amongst the public at large. The attempt became a record-breaking reality at Sharjah International Airport, smashing the previous record by 15 tons and Nissan, along with the Patrol, reasserted its market dominance. Nissan showed its deep appreciation and gratitude by sharing the prestigious accolade with the airport.

Nissan’s Patrol Challenge was a huge success in terms of generating public interest, with a global online reach of over five million users, over 1 million Youtube views, and social media interactions exceeding two million.

In partnership with Guinness World Records, the award celebrates and recognizes the greatest record-breaking brand campaigns of the last 12 months across the globe. The Nissan Middle East campaign was shortlisted for its creativity, daring nature and ability to set the Nissan Patrol apart as an innovative and exciting brand within the automotive industry.

The lead-up to the Guinness World Record for ‘heaviest aircraft pulled by a production car’ created mass awareness of the brand and the climax inspired a huge wave of excitement and respect among target consumers as well as the public at large.

Samir Cherfan, Managing Director at Nissan Middle East said: “It is a very proud moment for us to be recognized as among the top brands in the world in this category. At Nissan we constantly challenge ourselves, and innovation and excitement are deeply ingrained within our business philosophy. This is a real milestone that shows we are a progressive, forward thinking company and as well as providing the very best products, we will always try to innovate and inspire.”

The Festival of Media Global Awards celebrate the very best in media thinking from around the world and brings together the most progressive marketers, leaders from international advertisers, media agencies and media owners. It is the only industry event that brings together themes such as branded content, advertising and social media, free versus paid-for media models, the future of measurement, procurement in marketing and transformative consumer trends.

Launched in 2007, The Festival has become the premier forum of debate for an industry undergoing profound structural change. This year the Festival of Media Global hosted 76 speakers, and held 24 sessions focused on discovering the future trends of media, content marketing, big data usage, wearable technologies, and mobile.

About Nissan Middle East:
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., Japan’s second-largest automotive company, is headquartered in Yokohama, Japan, and is part of the Renault-Nissan Alliance. Operating with approximately 236,000 employees globally, Nissan sold more than 4.9 million vehicles and generated revenue of 9.6 trillion yen (USD 116.16 billion) in fiscal 2012. Nissan delivers a comprehensive range of over 60 models under the Nissan and Infiniti brands. In 2010, Nissan introduced the Nissan LEAF, and continues to lead in zero-emission mobility. The LEAF, the first mass-market, pure-electric vehicle launched globally, is now the best-selling EV in history.

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