• by Tanya Gazdik , July 24, 2025

Automakers are fond of including accolades in advertising. Nissan takes it one step further by showing how an award was actually won. 

New creative from Omnicom's Nissan United dramatically demonstrates the intensive testing and development that goes into Nissan vehicles.

Nissan was recently named #1 for new vehicle quality among mass market brands in the J.D. Power 2025 U.S. Initial Quality Study. That distinction is mentioned at the end of the launch spot, which focuses on the Nissan Rogue SUV, which takes on extreme stunts inspired by real-world testing.

The spot ends with the voiceover: “We put it through the worst, so you get its best."

The campaign spotlights Nissan's rigorous testing processes through social media content, reinforcing the brand's commitment to reliability and performance.

Longer-form videos take viewers behind the scenes, with real engineers from Nissan Technical Center North America and the Nissan Arizona Testing Center offering an inside look at the extreme testing vehicles undergo before production.

Running in parallel, a series of TV spots, digital videos and long-form content on NissanUSA.com will showcase first the Rogue, and later will spotlight Nissan Frontier's capability and durability through bold, high-impact demonstrations. Marketing Daily got a sneak peak at the rough cut, where the Frontier is towing something very surprising…more to come. 

Creative was inspired by a trip to Nissan’s Americas research and design center in Michigan, says Allyson Witherspoon, chief marketing officer, Nissan U.S.

“We were so inspired by everything that the engineers are doing to go through the testing process,” Witherspoon tells Marketing Daily. “And we were like, these could be really interesting stories for consumers to hear about."

The different scenarios came out of discussion with Chris Reed, regional senior vice president, research and development, Nissan Americas --  responsible for all vehicle engineering and development operations -- and his team.

“All of his engineers, they all kind of have this philosophy of ‘what ifs,’” Witherspoon says. “'So what if we did this? What if we could show this to consumers? What if we could test the car in this type of way?' And again, that really, really inspired us. The engineering team, throughout the entire creative development process, they were there and collaborating with us.”

None of the stunts shown in the creative are fake. The vehicles were actually subjected to the grueling conditions, she says.

“That was very important for me,” Witherspoon says. “I didn't want it to feel like it was fake or something that was movie-making magic. It is a 100% real what we were doing to those cars. And there's going to be more work that will come out next month for Frontier where we push it even further. And again, it's all very real. It's not CGI, it's not AI, it's not post-production, what we did, and that's how we tested the cars and this extreme environment.”

Nissan dealers are embracing the new work, she says.

"We took them through the rough cuts a few weeks ago," Witherspoon says. "They really felt that it was breakthrough. They felt that it was showing Nissan in a light that we hadn't really shown in several years. ... They also said they don't think they've seen anything like this before from other brands... Obviously, that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to be unique and set ourselves apart."