Nissan to shift part of £20m spend into web-connected TV

By John Reynolds, marketingmagazine.co.uk, Friday, 20 July 2012 11:35AM

Nissan is to shift advertising spend out of linear TV and into web-connected TV and has not ruled out a move into Premier League football sponsorship, according to Simon Sproule, a top marketing executive at the car brand.

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In April, Nissan triumphantly revealed record UK sales, achieving its highest market share of 5.34% and becoming a top-five manufacturer for the first time – overtaking BMW, Peugeot, Citroen and Toyota.

Sproule, corporate vice-president at Nissan, speaking exclusively to Marketing magazine, said: "I know its sounds trite, but the sponsorship world is constantly changing, based on the commercial success of individual properties.

"The biggest challenges for us are emerging market growth and deeper relations with the brand, and, in crude marketing terms, what is going to move the metal. We haven't even scratched the service in web TV. We are looking at web TV and web convergence with interest.

"The question now is if I have a new car, where am I going to get the biggest impact? It could be that traditional, high-volume TV campaigns aren't going to work as well in future."

Nissan is thought to spend around £20m on advertising a year in the UK, but it is unclear who much of this it spends on TV.

Nissan is the owner of luxury car brand Infiniti, which is a sponsor of Formula 1 team Red Bull. Infiniti is a commercial and technical partner of Red Bull.

Infiniti's sponsorship of the Red Bull team marked the first time that the brand has signed a global sponsorship of any kind, previously preferring regional tie-ins in sports such as tennis and sailing.

This article was first published on marketingmagazine.co.uk