• by Karl Greenberg , August 17, 2007

Nissan is promoting its Sentra, Z and Altima cars through in-game presence on the Xbox Live game "Forza Motorsport 2." Nissan is prominent both in the game itself and in marketing for the game by Turn 10, the game's developer. Owners of Forza 2, which went on sale in May, can download a free Nissan "car pack" featuring the 2007 Sentra SE-R, Altima, and 350Z at Xbox Live Marketplace.

Nissan and Xbox will promote the program with a series of summer and fall events. The first will be a Nissan Sentra SE-R tournament on Xbox Live in which 256 players will compete in a seven-week race of Nissan Sentras beginning Saturday. The championship race will be Oct. 6 at the L.A. Auto Show, where the finalists will compete for a Nissan car and other prizes. Sign-up started on Aug. 10 at xboxlivetournament.com. Non-players can watch at forzamotorsport.net.

Nissan and Xbox will also host an in-game customization contest within Forza Motorsport 2, in which players compete for prizes by doing upgrades on their virtual Sentra SE-Rs such as flashy paint jobs and accessorization.

Dario Raciti, director of gaming at Omnicom media shop OMD, which handled placement for Nissan, says the effort engages auto buffs by exposing them to Nissan SE-R, Altima and 350Z, which they can "drive" in their favorite racing game. "The main reason for the integration is to promote the Sentra SE-R to a demographic target (younger males) that increasingly spends more time with video games and less with other more traditional media," he says. "The Forza 2 audience is in line with Nissan's target for the Sentra SE-R."

Per Nissan, the first version of Forza has achieved more than 1 million unit sales, with the average user spending 100 hours on the game. Xbox's demo is male, mid-20s, with average household income of $58,000, the company says.

"When you add that to the number of hours that people are spending with the cars they downloaded and later racing to win the tournament, you get an enormous amount of viewing hours," says Raciti.

Nissan's factory-customized 350Z is featured on all Xbox promotional material for Forza 2, including TV, online and outdoor. Within the game, Sentra SE-R is promoted on virtual billboards, and Nissan is branded on the raceway and via signage throughout the game.

Raciti says Nissan was included in almost every piece of marketing and communication related to the game, starting from the front cover of the game all the way to in-store displays promoting Forza 2 at game retailers. Also, Nissan was on the Forza 2 print ads and TV spot.