Going into 2021, Nissan Canada Inc. hoped to draw attention to the recent redesign of its Rogue model. The logical place to do so was the Canadian International AutoShow, where the automaker had launched such initiatives in the past. But thanks to COVID, the show's in-person iteration came to a dead stop. Plus, due to pandemic concerns, dealership visits had ground to a crawl as well.

So to swerve past these challenges, Nissan Canada paired up with Kubik Inc. to devise the Nissan Studio, a one-off solution that offered both in-person and online car-buying encounters. Marketers hoped the activation would move online buyers one step closer to a test drive via personal interactions. Laying this online groundwork, Nissan surmised, would help buyers quickly merge from a digital experience to an in-person exchange once people began to venture out again. And when they did, Nissan would have a high-traffic retail space ready to greet them.

Located within a traditional retail footprint in Toronto's Yorkdale Shopping Centre, the physical portion of the experience comprised a showroom where would-be buyers could peruse Nissan's wheels. The upscale environment housed various models, each of which was accompanied by a nearby display showing promotional videos and personalization options. Staff roamed the space to answer questions, but a centralized counter offered an obvious interaction point. To accommodate the digital experience, the store also included a broadcast studio from which brand ambassadors could interact with remote customers in real time – allowing the latter to opt in to personalized vehicle walk-throughs or live group tours.

While the retail store remained open during mall hours, online buyers could interact with staff 12 hours a day, seven days a week. Clearly, when the pandemic pumped the brakes on the usual car-buying experience, Nissan Canada took an alternate route and reinvented it altogether.