#ImpossiblySmart: Giant Snow Globe Experience

Giant Snow Globe Experience around the All-New 2019 Nissan Altima at the World Trade Center Oculus in partnership with TBWA and Fake Love

Theresa Monahon, Creative Director, TBWA

Sam Ewen, SVP Business Development, Fake Love 

Tell us about yourself and your role in the creation of this work.

TBWA: I’m Theresa Monahon, Creative Director, TBWA\Chiat\Day, Nissan’s ad agency. The TBWA team conceived of the initial idea of a large scale snowglobe moment and then worked together with media agency OMD to find the right partner to collaborate and bring this to life. The New York Times audience and Fake Love’s expertise in large scale experiential activations made perfect sense so we were super excited to be working with them.

Fake Love: I’m Sam Travis Ewen, SVP, Business Development for Fake Love. Myself and John Oros from The New York Times were the key client partners and helped develop the idea for the 2019 Nissan Altima experience along with TBWA

 

What did the brief ask, and what challenges did it present?

TBWA: The ask was to create awareness of the 2019 Nissan Altima’s Intelligent-AWD technologies in a noteworthy experience that was innately shareable. We pulled inspiration from the Nissan "Impossibly Smart" campaign that showcases how Nissan Intelligent Mobility technology is seamless, it allows the driver to feel as if the world is moving around them. With the holidays fast approaching, time was of the essence in locking down location, scale and design of the cityscape. Through the collaborative process, we settled on creating one of the largest snow globes the world has ever seen, right in the heart of the financial district, at The Oculus.

Fake Love: Not only did we have to figure out all of the logistics around getting a car inside of such a large ‘snow globe’ experience, but we also wanted to create the illusion of the city bending at the will of the driver. We also wanted to make it snow indoors, so that was quite a challenge.

 

What led to the decision of a “Giant Globe”? Were there any other experiences that were considered?

TBWA: There were some other creative concepts that were considered, but we all felt that this is the one that would make the biggest splash. And as it ran so close to the holidays, creating this futuristic winter experience felt like the right creative choice.

How did the client initially react to the idea when you presented it?

TBWA: The client really loved how this idea simulated the weather conditions the Altima’s  I-AWD was developed for in a fun, immersive holiday experience. It really created a moment in time that begged to be shared and reinforced the brand’s positioning as a tech company
that moves people on an emotional level.

 

Did you have any unexpected reactions to the “Giant Globe” experience? How would you compare the reactions from influencers to that of the general public?

Fake Love: Both the public and our influencer invitees were equally excited by the experience! We gave them the opportunity to imagine themselves in the world that the All-New Nissan 2019 can create for them through this ever changing experience. The fact that we went from a warm sunny day look to then making it snow inside the snow globe itself challenged perception. There was a curated audio and light experience as well, all designed to showcase the hi-tech nature of the vehicle itself. Attendees ended up spending much more time with the experience than expected and a significant amount of social content came from both our influencers and the general public alike.

 

Were there any unexpected difficulties that arose during the creation of the “Giant Globe”? How did you adapt?

Fake Love: When doing a large scale event of this type in a major city, you always run into unexpected situations. We had to work with Westfield, who runs The Oculus in NYC and The Port Authority to ensure everything we did was up to spec, especially for such a high profile location. We had to manage the logistics of an extremely short build time, we had weather challenges and finally we had an indoor snow experience that we had no first-hand experience with how it would react to the environmental conditions. All of this led to a tense few days but in the end it all came together and really showcased the vehicle in a fun and enjoyable way.  

 

What did you enjoy most about seeing this through? Are there and lessons you’ve learned anything from the experience?

Fake Love: The experience really created a magical moment in one of the most iconic areas of NYC and the world. Seeing it all come together and knowing how hard all of the partners worked to ensure this was very gratifying.

In addition to having an amazing and daring Nissan client, TBWA, Fake Love, OMD, Hello Society and The New York Times all collaborated beautifully in what was a pretty challenging timeline and with significant hurdles to bring it to life. We can’t wait to do it again.