Nissan uses humour for roll-out of Sentra

Timed to coincide with major festivals celebrated in Malaysia -- Hari Raya, Christmas and Chinese New Year -- the Sil Ad-created campaign aims to break away from typical 'drive by' car advertising, instead focusing on newly-introduced features and design. Sa'ad Hussein, Sil Ad's creative director, said: "To position the Sentra as young and sporty, we enlisted young and stylish talents, utilised amazing 3D transformation techniques, a fiery red car and an equally hot babe in this stylish spot, with a humorous twist at the end." Produced by Karen De Silva of Passion Pictures and directed by Jamie Quah, the spot was designed to create a fresh, younger image of the Nissan Sentra, while maintaining a sophisticated and polished tone. The TVC features two young, trendy guys checking out the Sentra in the window of a Nissan dealership. As they imagine the car in different colours and with various accessories, the car dutifully and slickly changes into exactly what they imagine. The humorous twist comes when they attempt to imagine a gorgeous girl in the car in front of them, but are instead treated to a not-quite-so-attractive face of the dealership's security guard popping up from out of the shadows and giving them a fright. "For a car that has already proven its power, speed and engineering revolutions with an ever-growing following of consumers, the ad wisely does away with your typical 'my car is the fastest and most powerful' visuals and instead touches on a very real thought that goes through every consumers mind: at the end of the day, how good does it look?" Hussein said. Print ads use bold visuals to make the Sentra stand out, while 40 radio commercials, developed in three different languages -- English, Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese -- parody popular TV shows and encourage listeners to pay closer attention to detail and decipher between the familiar and the unfamiliar. The campaign will run until the end of November. Endaran Tan Cheong Malaysia has been distributing Nissan cars in Malaysia for 48 years, with key competitors including Honda and Toyota.