Nissan opened an original popup café to promote XStorage, a product made from recycled Nissan Leaf batteries that aims at storing energy for home usage.
Under the hashtag #ElectrifyTheWorld Nissan tries to start the dialogue with citizens on alternative ways to create, store and use energy. It’s also for them a way to promote their XStorage battery system, a by-product of Leaf batteries. For those of you who don’t know the Leaf, it’s their 100% electrical vehicle; still seldom seen on roads but yet pretty sexy and fitted for the city. I love it.
XStorage is manufactured in partnership with Eaton in the UK (Eaton is a huge ca. 100k-employee conglomerate in the field of power management).
Inspiration at the entrance
Examples of best practices were displayed at the entrance of the Nissan electric café, on a wall covered with (false) moss. Among the different examples of fine energy management projects around the world, we recognized the Media ICT building built in Barcelona by Enric Ruiz Geli whom I had the privilege to meet in 2012 (see here for an account of this amazing project).
What was this popup café all about ?
The Nissan popup café had nothing to sell; really nothing except an experience and a message to sensitize people to their cause : #ElectrifyTheWorld
So what could you do in this popup café ? have a treat and pay with energy. That was the concept.
Instead of money, the menu let you pay with energy (30W or 60W depending on what you wanted). In short, you first had to burn calories before getting your treat.
Our take
We loved the Nissan Electric Café concept. It was very different from other popup stores we have visited in 2016; yet it remains relevant for the brand. Definitely a meaningful differentiation strategy.
Posted in Marketing.
