designboom’s recent ‘think outside the parking box‘ contest has been selected as the most distinctive worldwide design competition, a communication event that broke all conventions within the category (of the best targeted campaigns. this category rewards campaigns that have identified and reached specific audiences).
the people’s award, in collaboration with advertising age and wall street journal, has recognized designboom as ‘the most influential global design website (an english language publication, read by 2.5 million unique readers from 175 countries / stats are on a monthly basis)’. a unique accolade, singling us as being at the very leading edge of creativity and innovation in global media.
here is a brief case study of how nissan harnessed the influence of the global design community the launch of the nissan qashqai in 2006, signalled the arrival of the crossover sector in europe, it was seen as the most daring & adventurous car in the segment. design is always a key decision factor in any car purchase and this was seen to be even more pronounced amongst qashqai buyers. however 3 years after launch, with no body redesign imminent, the quashqai’s distinctiveness in style & design was being eroded by competitors, leadership position was at risk as their design credentials faltered. nissan needed to reinforce qashqai’s design credentials in an authoritative and authentic way, inspire positive design buzz and ultimately drive sales.
rather than shout about the qashqai’s design credentials nissan needed to engage and leverage the power and influence of the design community to act as the catalyst for the spread of this message to the mass audience. nissan’s target audience were the design influencers, who consider themselves above advertising. this community is highly cynical and hard to reach. traditionally, they hate almost all advertising, especially from big brands.
hyper influencers comprise of individuals from the worlds of architecture, interior design, the arts and media, they are highly competitive and relish the opportunity for self-promotion in areas they are passionate about. to truly engage them nissan needed to involve them in an authentic cultural debate that mattered: the challenge of making of urban parking an inspirational element of the urban landscape and not a blight on the city.
results: the designboom campaign delivered an increase in millward brown brand scores against the ‘distinctive, tough and stylish design’ statement by +5% year on year qashqai image score increase july 09 = 34.6 % to feb 10 = 44.1 %. + 64 % increase in design buzz – 87% positive! (… and nissan declares that sales were running at +3.4% year on year since the competition activity started).
out-think rather than out-spend, the solution is to engage designers in a cultural debate. 3059 designers from 96 different countries participated. first prize was won by tanzim hasan salim from bangladesh with his ‘rotary parking machine‘.
vote for designboom! the people’s award is your chance to determine who wins a unique prize in world advertising. the jury has shortlisted the contenders for each of the categories and now you can select your favorite picks. each case study has a full write up and most have a reel to allow you to get under the skin of the thinking behind this work. votes will be accepted until 1800 CET on monday 19 april 2010. the five most popular cases will be put to delegates at the festival of media in valencia on april 20, 2010. view the full list and vote for designboom
organizing design competitions is difficult
digital activity took the form of viral seeding with activity across design & urban websites, forums and blogs. this activity was supported across more than 60 design titles across EMEA. winners were announced in november 2009 with a showcase event in paris on january 22, 2010 during the ‘maison et objet’ design fair.
more info the independent on the nissan/designboom competition wired magazine on the nissan/designboom competition interview with designboom on design competitions on trendhunter
the festival of media awards (FMAs), launched in partnership with advertising age magazine, recognize the creative use of media and effectiveness as well as media owner innovations and have been designed to provide a showcase for the very best in media thinking from around the world. the festival of media is the destination for a new era of marketing communications. aegis and AOL, adconion and ebay, orange and microsoft, viacom and sony, the wall street journal and vodafone all support the event.
