Canada’s creatively inclined are rolling with Nissan’s social media-based launch promotion for its new Cube car, even taking the contest offline and into the real world.
Since the promo kicked off in February, the number of artsy Canadians signing up to try and win one of the cars has escalated, with a 40% jump in registrations over the weekend. To date, 4,860 Canadians have registered via email with 1,000 completed profiles/surveys submitted. Out of these, 500 will be selected to audition for one of the cars. Another 1,544 Cube enthusiasts are following the journeys on Twitter.
Contestants are finding a multitude of ways to get themselves noticed by Nissan through their online social networks in order to secure a coveted audition spot. One eager contender took it upon herself to invite as many Canadians as possible to the contest via demo-fitting websites and forums. Waging her crusade via Toronto radio station 102.2 The Edge’s website and Facebook fan page, MuchMusic’s Speaker’s Corner, Twitter and even classified ads on Canada.com, she’s documented all of her efforts on her blog. Another contestant brought her efforts to the streets of Saskatoon, promoting the car rather than herself by plastering Cube sticker ads all over the city and recording the stickings online through her blog.
‘The idea of mobilizing the creative class is multiplying in social media,’ Tony Chapman, founder and CEO of Toronto-based Capital C, who developed the Cube launch, tells MiC. ‘We are already having candidates create custom software, web sites, photography, organize mash-ups – all in an effort to get noticed.’
Chapman expects that the creative efforts put forward by aspiring Cubists will only amplify as the contest enters the audition phase in April. When all is virally said and done, 50 Cubes will be given away to the contest winners during giveaway events in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal in June.
