The coveted Heisman Trophy, awarded annually to the best player in college football, sits at the core of NCAA partner Nissan’s ongoing ‘Heisman House’ campaign leveraging the start of the 2019/20 football season with creative featuring a line-up of past winners.
To start the ninth year of the Nissan ‘Heisman House’ campaign, developed with agency TBWA Chiat Day, a series of TV spots starring nine previous winners airs on ESPN throughout the college football season.
This year’s campaign is led by a set of five 45-second spots and a further five 15-second spots featuring the Nissan Rogue, Altima, Armada, Maxima and GT-R 50th Anniversary Edition (while Nissan Intelligent Mobility’ also remains a key focus.)
Nissan, an official partner of the NCAA, has also been a sponsor of the Heisman Memorial Trophy Award and the Heisman Trophy Trust for the last 14 years.
The opening spot of the 2019.20 campaign iteration, ‘Road to the Heisman House,’ debuted during the season opening UCLA vs Cincinnati game on ESPN.
The spot features former winners, most of whom had successful NFL careers, driving in various Nissan vehicles to a mansion – the Heisman House.
The commercial opens with the two back-to-back Heisman winners from Oklahoma – Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray – driving to the home.
This is Murray’s first time since winning the award and, much to the merriment of the others, he wears a suit while all the others wear their college jerseys.
The spot also stars Paul Hornung (Notre Dame, 1956), Derrick Henry (Alabama, 2015), Marcus Mariota (Oregon, 2014), Tim Tebow (Florida, 2007), Eddie George (Ohio State, 1995), Bo Jackson (Auburn, 1985) and Tim Brown (Notre Dame, 1987) all chatting on the way to the house.
When they arrive, Murray and his rose-colored suit are welcomed with open arms.
The launch spot is supported by additional videos including ‘Bo vs The Machine’,
and ‘Parking Spot’.
All 2019 Nissan Heisman House campaign spots were directed by Anthony and Joe Russo (who recently helmed Avengers: Endgame) and produced by Bullitt.
Supporting the TV spots, Nissan will also enable college football fans the opportunity to vote for their favorite Heisman Trophy candidates. Nissan’s fan vote – the voice of the public – is cast along with other Heisman voters from sports journalists and previous Heisman winners.
Fans can vote through Twitter or at nissanheismanhouse.com via their mobile devices.
Plus, as in previous years, the ‘Nissan Heisman House Tour’, featuring a simulated Heisman House, will travel to different college campuses throughout the country.
The Tour provides fans an opportunity to enjoy the Heisman House living room, take photos with the Trophy, and meet Heisman Trophy winners as well as ESPN on-air talent.
The tour’s first stop will be in Austin (Tex) for the LSU vs. Texas matchup Saturday, 7 September.
Fans can follow all things Nissan Heisman House throughout the season via the online platform, NissanHeismanHouse.com.
“The Heisman House campaign continues to be a tremendous opportunity for Nissan to creatively feature our robust vehicle lineup and innovative technology in front of the massive college football audience,” said Allyson Witherspoon, vice president, Marketing Communications and Media, Nissan North America, Inc.
“This year, we’re excited to welcome newcomers Kyler Murray and Paul Hornung to the family, helping create what is sure to be our strongest lineup of commercials, online videos and social content yet.”
The campaign was created by a TBWA Chiat Day team which included CCO Renato Fernandez, ECD Al Merry, CDs Liz Cartwright and Stephen Lum, Senior Copywriter Adam Aceino, Senior Art Director Josh McCrary, Copywriter Ryan Siepert, Art Director Dan Hales, Copywriter Stew Tribe, Art Director Alex Holm, Copywriter Avi Steinbach, plus Managing Director Scott Kavanaugh, Business Lead Val Tyll, Business Director Tony Burman, Business Supervisor Sharon Hsu, Assistant Business Manager Raquel Devariel, Associate Strategy Director Corianda Dimes, Supervising Senior Planner Jared Rosen, Senior Producer Chris Spencer, Producer Garrison Askew, Associate Producer Michael Schroepfer, Director of Business Affairs Robin Rossi and Steve Walsh, Media Business Lead Lauren Natale
Working on the ESPN Creative Works team was Brett Becks, Joe Knaus and from the
Heisman Trust was Rob Whalen.
Comment:
Our case studies on this ongoing initiative date back to 2015’s iteration (see case study) and this latest work comes after Nissan extended and expanded its NCAA partnership.
Nissan ups commitment to college sports with @NCAA partnership. https://t.co/ne9q0AxOAj pic.twitter.com/Jld4dXZnJG
— Nissan (@NissanUSA) August 30, 2019
At the end of August, Nissan and the NCAA announced that Nissan had increased its tie-up with NCAA – from March Madness to college football – in a deal that sees Nissan become an Official Corporate Partner of the NCAA.
“Through our Heisman Trophy sponsorship, Nissan has been synonymous with college football for well over a decade, and now, we are leveraging that momentum to expand our commitment with another icon of college sports,” said Witherspoon.
“There are few things in athletics more exciting than NCAA March Madness, and we can’t wait to bring our exciting portfolio of vehicles and innovative technology to the hardwood this basketball season.”
As an Official Corporate Partner of NCAA Men’s Basketball, Nissan will have a presence on linear television and streaming via commercial inventory, in-game features and vignettes through the whole season.
“We look forward to our partnership with Nissan, and we are pleased that the company, with its strong brand, has committed its support to NCAA student-athlete achievement, intercollegiate athletics and higher education,” said Ellen Lucey, NCAA director of Championships & Alliances, Corporate Relations, Marketing and Branding.
Links:
Nissan USA
http://promo.espn.com/espn/contests/nissan/heisman/2019/
https://www.youtube.com/user/nissanusa
https://www.facebook.com/NissanUSA
https://www.pinterest.com/nissanusa/
https://www.instagram.com/nissanusa/
TBWA Chiat Day
Heisman Website:
ESPN:
NCAA
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