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Originally Posted by AFR 20/2/12 P42 MARKETING & MEDIA
by John Stensholt
Nissan's V8 plans get hearts racing
Nissan Australia sales and fleet executive general manager Ian Moreillon got exactly the reaction he was hoping for earlier this month when the car manufacturer announced it would race in the V8 Supercars motor racing category.
After two decades of only Ford and Holden having a presence in the V8 competition, Mr Moreillon said many Nissan fans had "come out of the woodwork" and expressed their joy at Nissan taking part in the most popular car racing series in Australia.
"We knew it would create a high level of engagement with the public and the media when the announcement was made, " he said.
"There's been a lot of positive reaction on websites and just talking to people there is a lot of excitement about it. All of a sudden, there are a lot of Nissan fans coming out and saying they will be supporting us."
Nissan will participate in the V8 series with drivers Todd and Rick Kelly, who now race on Holden Commodores. Kelly Brothers Racing will have one more season of racing in Holdens before making the switch to Nissan for the 2013 season.
By then, Mr Moreillon said, Nissan would have an advertising and marketing campaign under way leading into the season.
"We're not exactly sure which car we will race, but its fair to say there will probably be a new model that we will certainly put into the market place after we start to race the car," he said.
"So that will be part of the pre-activity marketing strategy for us, as we will be racing before that new model is available to the general public."
Althouh Mr Moreillon believed the "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" mantra was not as applicable to car racing and selling as it was a decade or two ago, he said being part of the V8's would boost the interest in the Nissan brand.
"We've done our research and besides the 2 to 3 per cent of hard core fans for V8's, you'll find there are a lot of white-collar people with fairly high incomes and a lot of female fans," he said.
"These are the sort of people we want to attract. We see our brand as exciting, which we think V8 racing is, too."
Before the advertising campaign, Nissan will have a marketing presence in big V8 races such as the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide in early March and the Bathurst 1000 in October. It has also taken out advertising signage for the races.
Nissan would also provide the safety car for this year's series, which leads the field around the track at a slower speed if there has been an accident.
"That means we'll be front and centre and leading races this year before we're actually racing in 2013," Mr Moreillon said.
Nissan had a stellar, if controversial, history in Australia's touring car racing category. Its four-wheel-drive, twin-turbo-charged GTR car dominated the then Touring Car Championship, the predecessor to the V8 series, in the early 1990's when Jim Richards and Mark Skaife won three consecutive championships.
But the car was not popular with the hardcore Holden and Ford fans that are so important to the V8's, with Mr Richards famously calling Holden and Ford fans "a pack of ar seholes" when they booed him as he was collecting the trophy for winning the 1992 Bathurst 1000 race.
The car was then banned by authorities, which paved the way for the introduction of the Holden and Ford two-make V8 formula that led to the boom in popularity for the sport in Australia.
That changes in 2013 under the V8's "car of the future" strategy, which has been a centrepoint of chairman Tony Cochrane's vision for the series, included expanding overseas and bringing in more manufacturers. Industry rumours have Chrysler following Nissan into the competition, potentially followed by a Korean car maker.
Mr Cochrane has run V8 Supercars since 1997. He became a shareholder in May this year when Sports & Entertainment Ltd sold its 25 per cent share of the business and private equity firm Archer Capital bought 60 percent for $180 million.
The V8 teams sold down their shareholding from 75 percent to 35 percent, and Mr Cochrane took up a 5 per cent stake.
Some fans have not been happy with media reports saying the Kelly brothers have received abusive messages from Holden fans regarding their switch to Nissan.
Mr Moreillon said the media reports were exaggerated and "there are plenty of fans that support the Kelly brothers [and] who will follow them over to Nissan." He said popular V8 driver Craig Lowndes had switched from Holden to Ford and back over the last decade and still maintained his popularity with fans.
As to whether Nissan can dominate the V8 competition, Mr Moreillon did not hedge his bets.
"We want to win race one in 2013," he said. "By race two, we need to win. That's what I've told the Kelly brothers and they're professionals who are racing to win"
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