Chase The Thrill
View the case- Brand
- Nissan
- Year
- 2014
- Objective
- Product Launch
- Industry
- Automotive
- Mechanic
- Arcade & Action
- Platform
- AR & VR
- Agency
- DigitasLBi Paris
- With
- UNIT9
- With
- Le Polish Bureau
Objective
Nissan was launching the new Juke and wanted the car to be felt on its Paris Motor Show stand, not just admired on a podium. The brief was to translate the physical energy of the Juke's "Tested to Thrill" TV campaign into something visitors could experience with their own bodies, rather than a brochure or a test drive. It also fed Nissan Europe's broader positioning around "innovation that excites" — visitors come to a motor show for what's next, and here the Juke wasn't something you drove, but something you chased.
Solution
Visitors are fitted with an Oculus Rift DK2, noise-cancelling headphones and a wrist heart-rate monitor, then step onto a circular WizDish platform with custom safety rails. Inside the headset they become a rollerblading android in a neon-drenched, Blade Runner-style city, with a Juke always just ahead — and the only way to move is to slide their own feet across the platform, which the game reads as running. That running turns into a rooftop chase: jumping between buildings, sliding under obstacles, and dropping down walls and a crane arm to keep the car in sight. Their heart rate is tracked throughout, and if it spikes too high, a voice in the game tells them to slow down. At the finish, the game shows their max heart rate and completion time, so they can compare scores with friends.
- 1
At the Nissan stand at the Mondial de l'Automobile, visitors step onto a fenced platform beside a new Juke and are fitted with an Oculus Rift DK2 headset, noise-cancelling headphones, and a heart-rate monitor, then positioned on a WizDish omnidirectional treadmill with safety rails and low-friction shoe covers.
- 2
A staff member starts, pauses, and restarts the session from a handheld iPhone or iPad app, so the player never operates a control themselves.
- 3
The headset drops the player into a Blade Runner-style neon city as a rollerblading android, with a Nissan Juke speeding away down the street ahead.
- 4
The player runs by shuffling their feet back and forth on the platform; a contact microphone picks up the friction and converts it into forward motion, with faster shuffling producing faster running.
- 5
The chase plays out vertically through the city as the player leaps between rooftops, ducks under obstacles, and slides down a crane's boom to keep pace with the Juke.
- 6
Head tracking allows a full 360-degree look around, and the headset's positional tracking also registers the player leaning or crouching their body.
- 7
If the player's heart rate climbs too high, an in-ear voice from a virtual companion tells them to slow down, tying the game's feedback to their real physical state.
- 8
At the end of the run, the player sees their peak heart rate and completion time, both shareable for comparison against friends' scores.
