Nissan Australia launches nationwide ‘treasure hunt’ campaign for Nissan Patrol

Australia – Nissan Australia has launched its “It’s Out There” campaign, which saw the automaker turn the country’s 7.7 million square kilometres into the setting for a nationwide hunt. The initiative centred on a challenge to locate a hidden Nissan Patrol, with the winner keeping the vehicle.

The campaign highlighted Australia’s off-road culture, with 4×4 communities playing a central role. It began with the hunt and later culminated in a 30-second TV spot.

Bilgen Tug, director of brand and customer experience at Nissan, said, “Leveraging Patrol’s long history in Australia, we sought to intrigue Australia’s 4×4 communities and adventurers at heart. To do so, we celebrated how a Nissan Patrol can give anyone the opportunity to explore all that the Australian landscape has to offer and captured those moments in an authentic way.”

The experiment was launched online with cryptic clues provided by Oscar Pearce, Australia’s leading geolocator and GeoGuessr World Cup representative. The puzzles required participants to study soil composition, tree lines, and lighting across ridges. Media partner CarExpert.com.au released the first clue, sparking engagement across 4×4 forums.

More than 1,000 Australians submitted video entries for a chance to join the live hunt. Five finalist teams were flown into South Australia’s Bendleby Ranges, where they competed across 200 kilometres of 4WD tracks.

The project was developed with TBWA\Melbourne, Revolver and Glue Society. Production involved extensive safety protocols and off-road access planning.

Jonathan Kneebone, director at Glue Society, said, “The idea of hiding a Nissan Patrol in the middle of the Australian outback and allowing people to test their detective and driving skills to find it was something we couldn’t resist being part of.

“It sounds simple, but as productions go, it was beyond what we’d ever attempted. Wild weather events, extraordinary remoteness and lack of infrastructure aside, the reward was in making the seemingly impossible happen. It bought out the real adventurer in all of us, just like the Patrol itself.”

The challenge was covered by Channel 7’s Sunrise, which broadcast live updates from the competition’s secret location and later announced the winners.

Beth and Travers, a mother-and-son team, emerged as the winners, with Travers describing the prize as “life-changing.” He said his first trip in the Patrol would be to visit Beth’s farm with his family.

Paul Reardon, chief creative officer at TBWA\Melbourne, said, “Finders-keepers with a brand-new Nissan Patrol. Watching the lengths people went to, in order to enter this competition was amazing. It’s a level of engagement with a brand that’s often so hard to achieve. And at the heart of the competition, amongst all the excitement, we also had a brilliant product demonstration, contestants drove Nissan Patrols to find one, in harsh Australian 4WDing conditions.”

Meanwhile, Stephanie Gwee, creative director at TBWA\Melbourne, commented, “Hiding a Patrol in the outback wasn’t just a stunt and it wasn’t just advertising. It was a way to show that this vehicle belongs to the land and the people who take it on. This campaign was about celebrating that spirit and inviting even more Australians into the story.”