Nissan Follows the Bouncing Ball in March Madness Promo

During a pickup game in San Francisco, a basketball bounces off court … and just keeps going. One of the payers hops in his Nissan Sentra and follows that bouncing ball.

The merry chase winds through city streets, multi-lane highways and scenic country lanes—for 2,268 miles, in fact—all the way to Indiananapolus, site of this year’s NCAA men’s basketball tournament:

Why bother buying a new ball locally? Then he’d miss out on that melodious mix of in-camera action and CGI, driven by King Coleman’s boppin’ “Boo Boo Song.” Seems like branded orbs are always bounding down Telegraph Hill for one reason or another. Extra props for the llama! 

Though such a road trip would last about 33 hours nonstop, the ad from TBWAChiat Day New York and Skunk director Chris Palmer took a full year to arrive, as it was filmed in February 2020 and benched when pandemic concerns led to last year’s tournament’s cancellation.

“We believe people are excited and ready, especially this year, for the distraction of March Madness,” a Nissan rep tells Muse. “We wanted to play off the excitement of a pickup game with the ball having a mind of its own.”

All in all, a diverting entry in the epic-trek-to-retrieve-a-ball sub-genre. Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw made a somewhat similar play last year for Hankook Tire, while Ken Griffey set the hall-of-fame standard in this Nike spot from the ’90s.

Nissan’s March Madness sponsorship also includes sports celebs Kenny Smith, Nate Robinson and Maxwell Pearce sharing insights on social channels, and CBS’s NCAA Bracket Game challenge, giving fans the chance to win a 2021 Rogue.

CREDITS

Agency: TBWA/Chiat/Day NY
Chief Creative Officer: Chris Beresford-Hill
Executive Creative Director: Dave Banta
Creative Director: Aste Gutierrez
Creative Director: Mike Blanch
Senior Art Director: Aldis Rasums
Senior Copywriter: Mike Breighner
Copywriter: Alli Walker
Art Director: Louis Prenaud
Head of Production: John Doris
Senior Producer: Kyla Bridge
Managing Director: Scott Kavanagh
Business Lead: Val Tyll
Business Director: Barney Baxter & Tony Burman
Senior Business Manager: Michelle Darnell
Head of Strategy: Elliot Bastien
Senior Strategic Planner: Jared Rosen
Senior Integrated Business Affairs Manager: Felicia Simmons
Production Integration Director: Andy Galvin
Product Integration Manager: Christian Uka
President: Nancy Reyes
CEO: Rob Schwartz

Nissan USA
Vice President and US Chief Marketing Officer: Allyson Witherspoon
Director, Brand, Marketing Strategy & Content: Erich Marx
Senior Manager, Brand Lead: Ty Webb
Senior Planner, Marketing Communications: Jeff Simmons

Production Company: Skunk
Director: Chris Palmer
Director of Photography: Hoyte Van Hoytema
Managing Partner/Executive Producer: Matt Factor

Edit: Cut & Run
Editor: Jonnie Scarlett
Assistant Editor: Chrissy Doughty
Producer: Hope DuHaime

Post/VFX: The Mill
Executive Producer: Health Raymond
Producer:  Brett Grisham

Sound House: Squeak E Clean Studios
Senior Sound Engineer: Stuart St. Vincent Welch

Music:
King Coleman, “The Boo Boo Song”