The adage that history repeats itself is no more apparent than the current state of affairs at Nissan North America. The Wall Street Journal’s interview with Christian Meunier, head of Nissan NA, is so frighteningly similar to 1999 that I had to catch my breath. Yet, as with a lot of executives and marketers, the current plight of a troubled brand is a new situation, as if this state of affairs has never happened before, a challenge to be tackled and changed. Mr. Meunier seems to be avoiding the understandings, learnings, and actions that turned around Nissan and Infiniti in the 1999-2001 Nissan Renaissance, as it came to be known.
The current challenges facing Mr. Meuiner and Nissan NA are recognizable. Sliding sales, less-than-stellar brand image, worsening dealer relationships, and a managerial crisis stemming from the arrest and departure of Carlos Ghosn. In 1999, sales were also sliding. The Nissan image was so awful that a dealer would need to offer over US $1000 as an incentive to buy a Nissan rather than a Toyota. Dealers were unhappy. The takeover of Nissan by Renault, with French executives and managers running its units, caused grief within the Japanese ranks. So much so that one Japanese manager committed harikari (seppuku).
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As for Infiniti, Carlos Ghosn was just a moment away from pulling the plug on that brand. Infiniti had never gained the driver’s seat among customers, as Lexus had. Infiniti’s exquisite-looking introductory advertising showed the vehicle in the woods, artfully presented with a focus on the door handle. Lexus showed a luxury vehicle with a tower of champagne glasses that did not topple because its ride and handling were so smooth. Style but little substance.
Nissan is a brand with “strong DNA,” as Mr. Meunier states. Products that expressed the Nissan DNA, such as the 280Z from 1975 to 1978 and the earlier 240Z from 1969 to 1973, dubbed the poor man’s Ferrari, are collectors’ items. The Xterra was an iconic lifestyle brand designed by the late legendary designer Jerry Hirschberg and his team at the La Jolla, CA, Nissan Design Studio. When Jerry Hirschberg spoke about how the Xterra came to be and how the designers executed the vision, you became entranced. Xterra was not about being “edgy” as Mr. Meunier suggests. Xterra was about bold, boundless practicality.
As was the Nissan brand.
In the Nissan Brand Orientation for all Nissan dealers, the brief dealership educational piece from The Nissan Brand Identity book, the Nissan brand has these elements, which were created during multiple sessions of the global Nissan Brand cross-functional team:
Brand Values (values of the desired customer)
- Sets Own Standards: Has own style/taste; Self-reliant; Discerning; Trusts Own Judgment
- Maximizes Life: Emotionally-involving; Balanced; Active
Functional Benefits (what the brand delivers very well)
- Fusion of Advanced Technology & Design for Human Benefit: Technology That Anticipates Human Needs and Desires; Creative Solutions
- Superior Agility & Responsiveness: Total Car Experience; Control; Responsiveness; Precision
Rewards (how the customer feels when the brand delivers the functional benefits)
- Imaginatively Designed With Me In Mind: Spirited; A Car for Me; Innovative; Instills Confidence
- Evokes A Passionate Total Car Experience: The Passion for Driving; Enhanced Quality of Life
Brand Personality
- Bold: Original; Challenging; Forward Looking; Engaging
- Thoughtful: Authenticity; Thorough; Ingenious; Sincere; Consistency
The Nissan Brand Statement was:
“We must consistently deliver our Brand Promise by focusing on those customers who value setting their own standards and maximizing life… by providing products and services that embody a fusion of advanced technology and design for human benefit, combined with superior agility and responsiveness… resulting in the emotional rewards associated with products and services that are imaginatively designed with them in mind and that evoke a passionate total car experience… while reflecting out bold and thoughtful personality.”
An important and incredible part of the Nissan turnaround was the chief designer, Shiro Nakamura, who placed these brand components on the walls so the team knew that the vehicles designed delivered on this brand promise. According to Shiro Nakamura, designers were asked to remember that they were not making mere bumpers; for example, they were making Nissan bumpers.
While the Nissan Brand cross-functional team was generating the input for the Nissan Brand Promise with our guidance, the Infiniti group went through a similar set of exercises, including a very dramatic photo sort. A photo sort is a pictorial research technique to elicit subconscious information about feelings and concepts about a brand that are sometimes difficult to articulate.
With Infiniti, the photos all team members had in common were of old and new versions of an item. For example, a covered bridge and a Calatrava bridge; an AGA cooker and a modern stainless-steel Viking range; a rocking chair and an Eames chair. Infiniti optimized elements of Japanese culture and technology.
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Along with the other input, we synthesized the idea that Infiniti was the epitome of grace and strength. The brand promise, Graceful Strength, had the following elements as its drivers:
Brand Values (values of the desired customer)
- Embraces the Promise of the Future: Forward-looking; Optimism; Personal Enrichment; Open-minded
- Uncompromising: High Standards; Determined and Purposeful
- Actively Engaged: Experiential; In control; Wholehearted Enthusiasm
Functional Benefits (what the brand delivers very well)
- The Artful Expression of Refined Power and State-of-the-Art Responsiveness: Attends to My Needs; Fusion of Intelligence and Vitality
- Anticipatory, Fine-tuned Product and Ownership Experience: Keenly-honed perfection; Total Ownership Experience
Rewards (how the customer feels when the brand delivers the functional benefits)
- Invigoration and Sincerity: Makes Me Feel Ahead of the Game; A Joyful Experience That Stimulates My Senses
- Personalized Exclusivity for Me: Completely Rewarded On Every Level; Beyond My Expectations
Brand Personality
- Graceful Strength: Refined Power, Thoughtful Innovation; Serene Dynamism, Artistic Substance
All Infiniti dealers were provided with this Brand Promise.
Mr. Meunier tells The Wall Street Journal that past Nissan products were “exciting.” True. He also tells The Wall Street Journal that those exciting products were “fun to drive, fun design and different, edgy products.”
Bold is daring, adventurous. Edgy might be something else.
Of course, the work we did with Nissan is over 25 years old. However, a brand’s provenance is not to be ignored. The power of provenance is not about preserving everything from the past; it is about preserving the best of the past for the present and future.
Contributed to Branding Strategy Insider by Joan Kiddon, Partner, The Blake Project, Author of The Paradox Planet: Creating Brand Experiences For The Age Of I
At The Blake Project, we help leaders turn brand into a disciplined driver of financial performance — strengthening pricing power, competitive position, and enterprise value. Email us to start a conversation about enduring profitable growth. For The EBITDA.
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