“Car-inspired sneakers are old news, we want sneaker-inspired cars,” said no one, ever.
Nissan looks to have finally grabbed the low-hanging fruit and rolled out a shoe collaboration between the Nissan Kicks car and some kicks (New Balance 327s, to be specific.) This campaign really turns the collaboration on its head though, because instead of New Balance creating some shoes that are inspired by Nissan, we're getting a Nissan that's inspired by the shoes.
The Nissan Kicks 327 Edition honestly looks like a parade float, but we cannot deny that it will turn heads. The goal of the campaign seems to be to get people talking about the Nissan Kicks e-POWER 4WD which we don't get here in America, while also advertising the New Balance 327s. It's sort of a lame version of what designer brands do with the likes of Rolls-Royce or Bentley, but we're all here for it.
One place we have to give Nissan credit is in the execution. The car really does look like a New Balance shoe, with the massive N logo looking right at home along with the wrap that mimics the suede and nylon design the shoes are known for. Then the front grille and rear of the car do a great job of recreating the black sole. Finally, the addition of the tongue and laces on the roof of the car really brings the whole, weird design together.
The idea is for this to be a publicity campaign over the course of the next month. The car will be driven around Tokyo, and people can snap a picture of it, and post it on Twitter with the hashtag “#Catch the Kicks” to be entered to win a Kicks e-POWER 4WD of their own.
People can also retweet the campaign to get a chance to win a pair of New Balance 327s. Unfortunately, it says in the fine print the grand prize car will not be wrapped in the 327 Livery, which definitely seems like a missed opportunity.
It’s a fun weird campaign and has us wondering why this has only been created for the Japanese market. New Balance is an American shoe company after all, and since we have the Kicks here as well we see no reason why two or three of these cars can’t be driving all over New York, LA, Chicago, or somewhere like that. Then, Nissan can release a line of New Balance sneakers inspired by the Kicks similar to what other manufacturers have done, and start raking in money on two fronts.
Keyword: Nissan Transforms Kicks e-Power 4WD Into Giant New Balance Sneaker