Almost a year ago, Nissan showed that it is an automaker with a sense of humor. When the company's social media team came across a video ad of a 1996 Maxima for sale on Craigslist, Nissan decided to have some fun with its fans.
"When we first learned about it we thought, 'We gotta buy this car. He'll never expect that. People will go nuts. How can you sell a car to a car company? We gotta jump on this,'" said Rob Robinson, Nissan, Social Communications, according to a company release.
Luke Aker of Orlando, Florida and owner of Ikonik Films, was behind the original spot that listed his '96 Maxima for sale as "Luxury Defined." The ad, which made fun of the luxury automotive market, became a viral sensation after a friend of Aker posted the ad on Reddit.
The video on YouTube is close to the two million mark, and counting. His small business has added clients and he recently worked with the automaker to make a second video for his '96 Maxima.
"I honestly didn't think it would do that well. I was thrilled with the 20,000 views I had within the first week. I was like, 'That's it. It's done. Let's do another video. Let's do it again,'" said Aker.
When Nissan contacted Aker, he thought it was a friend pulling a joke.
"I thought somebody was joking. I didn't really, but I was like, they couldn't really possibly follow through with this. Like why would they want one of their own vehicles, so that was a little surreal," said Aker, according to the automaker.
Nissan purchased '96 Maxima from Aker in December 2013. The company also donated $1,000 to Aker's charity of choice, Wounded Warrior Project. With an old car in their possession, Nissan decided to reach out to its fans on social media for opinions on what to with it next.
"We asked fans out on the web what we should do with the car, and so restoring it was one of the first things that came up," said Robinson.
The restoration process involved mainly cosmetic changes like bodywork, carpeting and new upholstery. There was also some frame and body work done, plus a new set of brakes were added, according to Nissan.
The car was in the shop for six months. Once it was finished, Robinson though "We should have some more fun."
"Once we had it, we thought, 'Now what do we do?' We kicked around a lot of ideas, and ultimately the idea of restoring it and then coming back to Luke to work with us seemed like a great way to tie it all together," said Robinson.
"When Nissan came to me to do a second video, I wanted to do something that was different from the first one, but not so far that people would not feel familiar with it. And that was the important thing, to be entertaining," said Aker.
Akers created the second video, called "Luxury Re-Defined," for the 1996 Maxima at Nissan's North American headquarters in Nashville.
"I'm looking forward to where they are going," said Aker. "This one on my left here, is a GT-R NISMO, and that has the current record at the Nürburgring in Germany*. It has got seven minutes and eight seconds, so that would be a definite, definite one that I'd walk out with."
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