Nissan drives innovation with immersive Fire TV experiences

As car shopping evolves from awareness-driven to exploration-focused, Nissan recognized the need to create experiences that allow customers to personalize vehicle choices before visiting dealerships. The automotive brand sought to transform how customers discover and engage with vehicles by leveraging Fire TV to transform the largest screen in the home into an immersive canvas for vehicle exploration.

For over two years, Nissan worked with digital design agency Critical Mass and Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab—the creative arm of Amazon Ads dedicated to developing first-of-their-kind ad experiences— to reimagine Fire TV's role in the automotive customer journey. Rather than using connected TV solely for awareness, Nissan aimed to create interactive experiences enabling vehicle discovery, customization, and seamless transitions to action on Nissan.com. Fire TV reaches consumers every day when they turn on the TV and decide what to watch—unlocking attention before they stream. With 54% of consumers spending more than six minutes browsing for content,¹ this created an opportunity for Nissan to reach customers where they are already spending time.

Custom Fire TV landing page experience

The challenge was bridging inspiration and action while maintaining the cinematic quality expected on the big screen. To avoid creating disconnected experiences where customers see an ad, then start from scratch on a website, Nissan wanted to utilize custom interactive ad experiences to preserve customer preferences across touchpoints, creating a continuous journey from living room exploration to dealership visit.

Progressive innovation across three campaigns

Nissan's Fire TV evolution unfolded across three innovative campaigns, each building on insights from the previous phase.

The journey began with the Nissan Kicks, testing Fire TV's interactive capabilities through a vehicle tour allowing viewers to explore features in detail, personalize colors using their remote control, and scan QR codes to continue their journey on Nissan's website. This initial experiment established Fire TV's potential beyond traditional video advertising.

Encouraged by results, Nissan pushed further with the Armada SUV. This ambitious experience featured cinematic interactive tours powered by Unreal Engine 3D assets—the same technology used in modern video games and films. Dynamic color customization showed real-time changes as the vehicle drove through various landscapes, while enhanced interactivity enabled deeper feature exploration using only the Fire TV remote. The campaign required significant technical collaboration between Amazon Ads and Critical Mass to optimize high-quality 3D assets for Fire TV devices while maintaining smooth performance.

As noted by Steve Savic, Executive Vice President and Creative Director, Critical Mass, “Fire TV enabled us to deliver more than a typical banner unit; it’s a reactive, dynamic experience that drops you right in the heart of an off-road adventure, frozen in time. Better yet, it puts you in control, letting you shape the story on a full vehicle tour where you explore exterior features, deep dive into the interior, and discover firsthand why ‘capable and equipped’ is the Armada PRO-4X’s credo.”

Amazon customers exposed to the Armada campaign on Fire TV drove a significant lift in consideration and purchase intent compared to Kantar autos benchmarks and a lift in consumer perception of Nissan as an innovative brand. Strong engagement with the dynamic colorizer proved customers desire interactivity and visual storytelling in the discovery phase of their shopping experience.

The 2026 Nissan Rogue launch represents the most advanced application yet. The "Put Rogue to the Test" campaign brings Nissan's broader marketing message to Fire TV in an unprecedented way, emphasizing quality, dependability, and reliability. The experience enables customers to explore immersive 360-degree views in every available color, engage with test-themed animation loops highlighting performance across various terrains and weather conditions, and customize their ideal configuration directly on the TV screen.

"To have these colorizers that are really dynamic and can be viewed on the fly is remarkable. And what I think is the biggest element is learning that viewers can click directly through, which is way better than QR codes," explained Tim Bosch, executive director at OMD USA, Nissan's media agency. "This is collapsing the pathway to our site, moving connected TV from an upper-funnel awareness tactic into something effective throughout the funnel."

The innovation's centerpiece is the "Send Me This Build" feature, allowing viewers to customize their ideal Rogue on screen, send this exact configuration to their email or directly to Nissan.com, and continue their journey online with preferences already loaded. This capability transforms the traditionally disconnected experience into a continuous journey where customer preferences are preserved across touchpoints.

“Streamlining the path to purchase by blending advertising, entertainment, and interactivity helps drive real action and transform the future of Nissan product discovery,” says Savic. “This campaign sets a new benchmark for interactive storytelling at Nissan and serves as a blueprint for future product launches. With seamless data transfer from media to site, it redefines how users connect with the brand."

Setting new standards for interactive engagement

The Fire TV Vehicle Showcase sets new standards for automotive advertising across engagement, customization, and action. With Rogue taking the next step in custom Fire TV landing page experiences, it shows Nissan’s focus on aiding customers down the funnel from awareness into consideration, allowing consumers to utilize the featured “Send Me This Build” tool to the Nissan vehicle detail page where they can begin to engage further through inventory lookups and dealer locators on automotive advertiser sites.

"With the Rogue campaign, we're delivering an immersive experience on Fire TV that connects directly to the exact vehicle build customers want," explains Kate McCagg, Global Head of Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab. "It's personalization in action, bridging exploration and real-world next steps."

The collaboration between Nissan, Critical Mass, and Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab proved essential to success. Brand Innovation Lab worked hand-in-hand with Nissan's teams to share technical expertise on optimizing 3D assets for Fire TV, test and refine interactive elements for intuitive remote control navigation, and create seamless connections between the Fire TV app and Nissan.com.

"All the feedback we've received from dealers and regional teams confirms they love the creative canvas," adds Bosch. "The actual creative canvas allows us to do so many more things on the big screen versus typical shopping tools. These configurator experiences are incredibly important for every auto brand, but building them for mobile or desktop isn't as visually stunning or cinematic as on a massive screen in your living room."

Together, these campaigns demonstrate how streaming TV can evolve from passive viewing to active engagement, reimagining Fire TV as an immersive channel for exploration and tailored experiences.

Sources

¹ Accenture, April 2024.