LEAVING A MARK
Nissan Heisman House
Ever ask yourself, if we left our sponsorship would fans even care? We did, and it led to creating something new for the culture of college football fans that could never be replaced by another sponsor.
STRATEGY
Originally a low cost strategy for injecting the Nissan brand into college football, the Heisman was generally regarded by most as a group of past winners, of which most couldn't name half... relegated to oil paintings and only an annual conversation of who's going to win this time. A collaboration of MKTG and Chiat/Day creatives thought of it a bit differently.
We sought to thrust the Heisman conversation into something more culturally relevant and lifestyle focused. We saw the Heisman as an elite club, more specifically a fraternity. Fraternities have houses, so what if we had one that all the guys lived in at the same time? What kind of shenanigans would go down? So we built it. A completely 360 degree campaign in which Experiential sets in the middle.
With the introduction of the Heisman House, Nissan had added a new staple to college football, beloved by fans, and irreplaceable if Nissan ever left. That's how you leave a mark amongst a community!
EXPERIENTIAL
The challenge is, when it's the Heisman House... Experientially it needs to be a house. So MKTG designed, built, and activates a full size semi permanant Nissan Heisman House every college football weekend hosted on campus at the weekend's marquee match-up. The House is so much bigger than a one-off event. It serves as the catalyst for tons of community engagement whether through influencers, former Heisman winners, content creation, or ESPN storytelling. The approach truly transcends any time or geography to create immense impact at scale pre, during and post experience.
WHAT WAS MY ROLE?
Worked collaboratively with creative counterparts at Chiat/Day to evaluate the sponsorship situation and opportunity for a new strategic approach.
Led the environment design of the mobile structure of the house with production counterparts to ensure authenticity, flexibility and feasibility.
Designed engagement strategy for house experience from Heisman storytelling, cultural sharable moments, vehicle and player integration.
Responsible for the development of the overall strategy and execution plan's articulation in presentation documents, pitch and internal merchandising of concept.
Creative oversight of implementation of the creative strategy and tactical vision for the House.
Art directed the creative Studio team's design of all creative materials graphically, digitally and for content use.
