While performing our Super Bowl car commercial watching duties we noticed a 2009 Nissan Cube in the big Pepsi advertisement. What did it cost Nissan? Nothing.
The new advertisement for the new Pepsi can featured Bob Dylan as the old generation and Will.I.Am as the new generation of artists shilling for Pepsi. During the commercial old became new and, following this theme, a Dodge A100 forward-control van became the 2009 Nissan Cube. Curious how this happened, we contacted Nissan PR to get the full details.
According to Nissan, they were contacted by Pepsi a few weeks ago because they felt the vehicle was a nice modern "refresh" of the boxier A100 van and would work well in a commercial they were shooting. Nissan happily obliged, providing the vehicle for the shoot. Other than the nominal costs associated with delivering a vehicle, Nissan didn't provide a payment for the ad placement (we can't confirm some Crystal Pepsi wasn't exchanged).
Despite having four of the Top 11 Super Bowl car commercials of all time, Nissan didn't buy any ads this year. Overall, the ad was offensive to anyone who likes Bob Dylan. This plus the Victoria's Secret ad makes the senior Dylan a bigger sellout than Jakob Dylan.
Overall, the essentially free placement of their new vehicle in an ad about what's new and cool during the freaking Super Bowl is a big win for Nissan.