UEFA Champions League Trophy to Arrive in Nissan Electric Car Powered by Fans
June 4, 2015
Wherever the UEFA Champions League final is held, prostate you can pretty much guarantee that the atmosphere is going to be electric.
That is also exactly how the trophy will be making its way to Berlin’s Olympic Stadium for Saturday’s final between Barcelona and Juventus – by electricity.
The first ever Champions League final in Berlin will see the trophy paraded through the streets on a convoy of electric powered vehicles. Another first for the biggest club competition in the world.
Official Champions League partner Nissan are enjoying their first season with European football’s governing body and their Marketing Director Gareth Dunsmore explained to iSportconnect how they’re channelling people’s excitement about Saturday’s showpiece into positive energy.
“Everything in leading up to the final is trying to capture that football excitement, click and turning that excitement into energy, ampoule ” Dunsmore said. “With that energy, we will charge an e-NV200, our electric brand, and go to the Champions League final in the UEFA electric parade which will actually bring the trophy to the final itself.
“What we’re going to be doing is having a bit of fun, playing some football, interacting with fans and everything fans do on our stand will generate that electricity that goes into the vans to take the trophy to the final.”
The charge will be delivered to the vehicles involved in the Champions League parade via virtual reality games, cone tapping games, and even an electric cage with one-on-one scenarios and the ball even delivering an electric charge.
The rather innovative way of transporting the trophy is symptomatic of the growth of the UEFA ‘Champions Festival’ which is held in the days around the final in each host city. The current version of the event has been a fixture since 2010.
Offering something different
For Nissan too it’s an opportunity to showcase their company – as Dunsmore admits that the Japanese brand is “not one of the market leaders” in Europe.
He said: “We took a decision to try and focus on our marketing effort on a global level and a European level on trying things to get noticed, and especially on things that people actually cared about.
“Football is obviously one of the most loved games on the planet; it can inspire a lot of passion. That’s what we were going after. So we’re very pleased to partner with the UEFA Champions League.
“We very early set out our stall out that Nissan offers something very different to other automotive manufacturers because we are leaders in EV technology – electric mobility. And we believed we could bring this to our Champions League activity and that had a very simple benefit for sure but would also benefit UEFA.
“Four or five days off and our activation in Berlin is 100 per cent dedicated to Nissan putting its message across on electric mobility and the fact that we are leaders in that field.”
Connecting with passions
Running out of power is something the company is not counting on – although they have installed 129 charging points in locations including the stadium and Tegel Airport to charge Nissan’s fleet of vehicles.
Several will be left over after the final as a legacy for the city of Berlin.
This is just one of many positive aspects Nissan believes their partnership with UEFA Champions League can bring.
“For the last few years we’ve been the leaders in the field and now with the Champions League we’ve got something where we can engage with people a bit more about it and find something a bit more relevant to it rather than just an advertising message” Dunsmore said.
“And that’s what sponsorship can do for brands like Nissan. It can really give us the ability to have a bit of fun, be less serious and connect with peoples passions and try to get our message across at the same time.”
Over the season, Nissan has been running goal of the week competitions as well as giving fans opportunities to see some teams train.
On Saturday, the company mainly has one very important job and one which will be of the utmost concern to Barcelona and Juventus – power the trophy to the Olympic Stadium!
