Heading into the Tokyo E-Prix, Nissan faced a challenge… We were fan favourites. But only 1% of Japan’s population engaged with Formula E. Therefore, to reach the local audience we needed jump the motorsport fence. We needed a different approach. So, we switched tracks and tapped into one of Japan’s biggest passion points... Gaming. We created a nostalgic 8-bit arcade game. ‘NISMO Electric Racer’ Players drove the Nissan Formula E car through the streets of Tokyo. Imagine Tokyo Drift, but in a Formula E car respawned in the 90s. But, of course, it wasn’t any ordinary game. It was made in partnership with local artist, Kentaro Yoshida. It was unmistakably Japanese in style. And it was made to be purposefully difficult. No “easy mode” here. Gameplay mirrored the top speed of an electric race car. Reaching speeds of 322 km/h. It was full throttle from the start button. This combination of speed, style and nostalgia was our cheat code. We hit high scores with the world’s most influential titles. Hypebeast, TopGear, Esquire, etc. Not bad going for a sport typically reserved for niche motorsport circles. And we didn’t stop there. We also took the game into the real world. We designed a special edition game-themed livery for the Nissan race car. Brand perception rocketed. 84% of those exposed to race activations see Nissan as “exciting”. (vs 43% of those not exposed). The activation banked over $3 million in earned media value. 25x the budget and considerably more than our $1.6M target. The promotional materials hit 23 million views. Similarly, well beyond our 15M target. And, last but not least, we topped the share of voice charts over the race week. Making Nissan the nosiest team on the grid. The game itself racked up 94,000 plays. The average session? 2.54 minutes. That’s 238,760 minutes. Or 3,979 hours. Or 165 days and 19 hours 🤯. Oh, and for the final boss battle? We won the actual E-Prix. Maybe it was all the extra pre-race pixel practice.