Nissan’s latest Titan XD TV ad ignored conventional truck ad bravado and went for something so sentimental that you have to wonder if engineers from all the OEMs will be coming in for a group hug. No, I don’t think so.If it wasn’t for my daughter, I wouldn’t have known it.
During last night’s NCAA college football championship game a commercial came on that lost my interest fast.
I remember seeing a young boy watching someone tie his boots and a voiceover that was gunning for something socially profound.
I looked down at my phone to check my email. I’m not easy to hook into commercials. I’m one of those that will drive the family crazy by surfing around between TV shows during the ads. It usually takes something with impressive action or comedy to keep me watching.
At the end of this halcyon head-shaker, my 11-year-old daughter tells me that I just missed a commercial for a Nissan Titan XD.
I was impressed and disappointed. I was impressed that Nissan took an ad out during one of the most watched football games of the year, and I was disappointed that I missed it.
I have to admit, though, that I wasn’t feeling too guilty about it. For me, there was just no connection to keep me watching.
Still, I felt a little bad about missing it because I know just how hard Nissan’s been working to get a slice of the huge pickup market.
Just how huge is the truck market? While I don’t have a line graph, I do have this, which probably sums things up pretty well…
AutoNation CEO Mike Jacobs told a Wall Street Journal reporter yesterday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit that, “America has gone completely truck crazy…” Cheap gas prices are driving the mania, he said.
So, trucks are flying off dealers’ lots and Nissan wants a piece of the action. Who can blame them?
When I went to Arizona to test drive the new Titan XD I remember sitting and watching an engineer talk about why a new Titan had to be introduced. His PowerPoint slide burned an image of lackluster sales via an anemic line graph that looked like a little stubbed toe amid jagged mountains.
Well, “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose…” as the old song goes.
So, I get to drive the 2016 Titan XD. I’m impressed with its power and features. It’s chosen by the Texas Auto Writers Association as the 2015 Truck of Texas. Not bad.
Then this Monday morning, Nissan unveils Titan XD’s big brother, Titan Warrior, a concept truck that’s bigger and more poised to tear up terrain than its little brother.
At this point, Nissan’s trucks are doing all the talking. Great.
Then comes last night’s Titan XD commercial which I watched this morning online. It’s got me thinking more Oliver Twist than muscle and machine…more Dr. Phil and Oprah than all-out beast and power…more head games than truck-to-truck combat.
I don’t have to have Michael Bay or one of the Farrelly brothers directing a TV ad, but I don’t want a pickup ad delivering suspect sentimentality.
I suppose Nissan, having bucked the ½-ton market with its in-between 5/8-ton, is feeling emboldened to buck the more traditional pickup ads that take memorable swipes at the competition.
Whatever the case, I think they’ve missed the mark with this coming-of-age commercial. Thankfully, the new Titan XD still speaks for itself and hopefully next time on TV I’ll see it in an impressive durability test like the kind I recorded in Arizona where none of the engineers I met waxed sentimental about the competition.
