Nissan is one of five companies partnering with Lucasfilm's new Star Wars spinoff, Rogue One: A Star Wars story.
It would appear Nissan is a part of the rebellion now: it has gone Rogue.
Nissan is one of five companies partnering with Lucasfilm’s new promotional campaign for the first Star Wars spinoff: Rogue One: A Star Wars story. Duracell, General Mills, Gillette and Verizon are part of the campaign.
“We are extremely pleased to be working with such a remarkable group of promotional partners for ‘Rogue One,'” said Lynwen Brennan, general manager of Lucasfilm. “This first in a series of Star Wars standalone films represents an exciting new era for both Star Wars and Lucasfilm, and the partners joining us on this exciting journey have each designed a stellar campaign capturing the spirit and camaraderie of ‘Rogue One.’”
Nissan and the other companies will “complement the tempo and tenor of the overall marketing campaign of this first-ever standalone Star Wars story,” according to a statement.
The automaker already has an automatic tie-in to the story: its Rogue small crossover. After getting a redesign for this year, sales are booming: up 13.5% through the end of July. It trails only the Toyota RAV4 and Honda CR-V.
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“There are exciting synergies with the film and the Nissan Rogue, our top-selling vehicle in the U.S. and Canada,” Jeremy Tucker, Nissan’s vice of president of North American marketing, said in a statement. “We will announce more news this September on a number of highly-visible integration activities for Nissan and the upcoming film.”
While Nissan’s partnership may seem cutting edge, it’s not the first automaker to see Star Wars as a vehicle, if you will, for its products. Fiat Chrysler jumped on board last year with latest in the Star Wars series, The Force Awakens.
Dodge, Chrysler, Ram, Fiat and Jeep each had Star Wars-themed ads.
FCA marketing chief Olivier Francois said last year the automaker had a lot to gain from a tie-in with what was, at the time, “the most culturally relevant thing in the world.”
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Fiat Chrysler was looking to reach a broad audience with the campaign – no surprise considering Baby Boomers first experienced Star Wars just as they were starting to buy new cars in large numbers. Gen-Xers and Millennials grew up with Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Obe Wan Kenobe as familiar figures.
The seven spots ran during professional and college football broadcasts, as well as other open spots during the broadcast day.
FCA augmented the TV effort with radio and social media campaigns. And it had a specially themed vehicle on hand outside the Los Angeles theater where “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” mades its global debut.
Automakers routinely try to tie up with films they expect to draw potential buyers into theaters. Many manufacturers operate offices in Hollywood to line-up cross-marketing campaigns and to provide vehicles to filmmakers when they think an appearance will play well for the brand.
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Among recent partnerships, the Dodge brand landed a place in the popular “Furious 7,” as well as “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay 2,” where it shared screen time with sibling Ram products.