Nissan 2012 Annual Report Download - page 11

Can you provide your thoughts on the current status of the Brand?
There’s no doubt that the Nissan brand is improving, but how do you measure brand strength?
It’s very simple. If you can improve market share at the same time that you can improve your
transaction price, your brand has to be improving. It’s easy to increase volume with incentives or to
increase the price and let the volume drop. But if you can raise both at the same time, the only
explanation is that your brand has become stronger.
We’ve moved over the past 12 months from not being on Interbrand’s 100 Best Global Brands
list to 90th place in 2011. The list also shows us as the fastest-growing brand in the industry.
Likewise, in the BrandZ measurement, for the first time in many years, we have moved in the right
direction.
This year will be very pivotal with a lot of new products coming out. Can you give a
rundown on the LEAF, Altima, and other models? How will this be tied in with the brand?
The impact of Nissan LEAF on the brand has been amazing. If we go back three or four years,
people weren’t talking about Nissan as the brand of innovation. But now we’re at the front of the
discussion about electric cars. Nissan LEAF has put us on the technology map and on the tip of
people’s tongues. And the other new cars that are coming clearly represent an opportunity to
reinforce the fact that Nissan stands for “Innovation and Excitement for Everyone.”
One of our most important launches this year is the Altima. It’s in the big-volume segment in the
United States and represents our biggest opportunity for improvement. The previous Altima was
number two in the US market, and with the new model, which has been designed with everything we
know about motorcars, we will have an opportunity to go for number one, which will also boost the
brand.
The other new cars that are coming include the Sylphy, Note and Sentra. All of these launches
started with the question, how does this car contribute to “Innovation and Excitement for Everyone”?
Having great products is one thing, but having compelling stories to tell and having people buy into
those stories is another. Traditionally, that has been the job of Marketing and Communications.
A year and a half ago, we took the decision to combine these two organizations and to bring them
closer to the Product Planning and upstream organizations so that we could grasp the voices of the
customer much earlier. This also enabled the telling of stories about new car development in a more
compelling manner.
An example of such storytelling is the “WHAT IF_” brand campaign we have currently launched in
around 30 airports around the world. Some 750 million people will walk in front of our advertising
every year and get a single message each time: that Nissan stands for “Innovation and Excitement
for Everyone”.
We have the science to make great products, so if you can tell compelling stories and make sure
your sales operation has the power to back up the stories, you have a very powerful car company.
Fastest Growing Brand
in the Industry
Andy Palmer Executive Vice President
Both internal indicators and external
measurements show marked increases in
Nissan’s brand strength over the past year.
With its market leadership in the EV segment
and its new Infiniti global headquarters
in Hong Kong, Nissan is delivering a
powerful, unified message of innovation and
excitement to consumers around the globe.
Innovation & Power of brand
Year 2 Power 88 Performance Corporate Data Corporate Governance
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NISSAN Annual Report 2012Message from Palmer EVP
Message from Palmer EVP