• by Karl Greenberg , May 6, 2015

Nissan has, in recent years, made a serious commitment to focusing on that thing called brand passion, and the emotional aspect of driving. It's an effort to get some distance from its competitors, by focusing on the brand’s core performance equity. And just maybe to create some meaning in a world of cat videos and celebrity plastic surgery photos. 

And the “Wild Ride,” now in its second year, is definitely part of a social-media trend: real people taking real car rides, and having a real good time, though often not in the way they expected. There was the wild ride that a skeptical auto scribe got from NASCAR star Jeff Gordon, disguised as a cab driver with a rap sheet. There's also the Mustang speed-dating thing.

Nissan's effort, introduced last year to tout the Altima sedan, reverses the idea: people aren't surprised to get a race-car experience by a race car driver, but that that the racing-performance ride they got was actually in a regular, production model. In last year's iteration, standard Altimas were dressed up as race cars, and that's what they sounded and performed like. Afterwards the participants can’t believe it was a regular Altima they'd been riding in. 

The new digital and broadcast campaign, via Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.-based Zimmerman Advertising and running through May, is more elaborate. Launching with a two-minute video on Nissan's YouTube channel, it shows how a group of invited consumers experience what the Altima can do. The consumers convene at a “Smart Glass” box — a cabin-sized container with video walls — at Santa Anita Westfield Mall in Southern California. Each person steps up to try his or her hand, literally, at a kiosk to try to unlock the box. When the right palm hits the pad, the walls become transparent, revealing a red 2015 Nissan Altima. 

Then it's off to the nearby Irwindale Speedway, where the participants get to take hot laps in Altimas both as passengers and drivers. Jeremy Tucker, VP marketing at the Franklin, Tenn.-based automaker, said consumer response last year convinced the company to go for round two. “We just had to play it again, even bigger and better.” 

There are also 30-second and 15-second national and cable broadcast spots, plus a range of digital executions, as well as Hispanic versions. The automaker says the campaign includes dealership graphics, hood signs and race car wraps. The Smart Glass installation made for the video is actually now at a dealership in Orlando, Fla. Nissan says it may use Smart Glass technology in after-hours dealership-level marketing applications.

And there is a tie-in with Nissan's official vehicle status with NBC's “The Voice” featuring interviews with contestants in 11 major media markets, per Nissan.