Nissan’s Diaz: Former Disney Exec Right Man for Marketing Job

NAPA, CA – Those who’ve been in the auto industry long enough can appreciate the fact that after a while, all marketing ideas and campaigns start to look alike.

That notion isn’t lost on Fred Diaz, Nissan North America’s vice president-sales and marketing operations in the U.S.

When tasked this year with filling the vice president-marketing, communications and media role at the Nissan brand, Diaz was looking for a change from the “same ol’, same ol’…things that we’ve seen in the U.S. automotive business for umpteen years,” he tells media here at a recent ’15 Murano preview.

After interviewing 24 people for the job, Diaz says it was immediately apparent the fresh ideas and new ways of thinking he sought were present in former Disney Consumer Products marketer Jeremy Tucker.

“(By) how he answered questions, there was a very strong, strategic difference in how he thought about things,” Diaz tells WardsAuto of why Tucker stood out. “His answers to the questions, the same questions I asked every other person I interviewed, were very different from folks who had tried-and-true, typical automotive experience, and that’s what I really liked about him.”

Diaz also says Tucker impressed him by how much he studied up on Nissan, research the other interviewees didn’t do. Tucker, who started at Nissan Sept. 22, knew of the automaker’s Power 88 business plan, which has a goal to increase U.S. market share to 10% by the close of fiscal-year 2017.

“The amount of energy and time and effort (he) put into studying and knowing Nissan…was just staggering to me,” Diaz says, noting other executives he interviewed only knew “on-the-surface” information.

Diaz admits some people may have scratched their heads at Nissan’s hiring of a Disney executive. Prior attempts at filling auto-industry roles with executives who are outsiders haven’t gone well. The names Ron Zarrella (of Bausch & Lomb and General Motors) and Bob Nardelli (of Home Depot and Chrysler) are part of more than a few cautionary tales.

But Diaz says Nissan didn’t need another “automotive expert,” but rather a “purebred” marketer, with a strong creative instinct that can’t be taught.

Tucker, whose resume also includes marketing work for PepsiCo and Procter & Gamble’s Pampers, Iams and Eukanuba brands, sees his new job as one of “accelerating the journey Nissan already is on, and taking it to the next level.

“My passion is for building big brands and driving growth,” he tells media here.

Nissan brand sales were up 12.4% through November in the U.S. and it is launching the ’15 Murano CUV this month. Next year it will debut new generations of the Maxima sedan and Titan fullsize pickup.

While Diaz says it’s too soon to talk about specific ideas Tucker has come up with for Nissan marketing, as they will appear in ad campaigns that still are in the development phase, the new VP is carrying over the finish line the campaign for the Murano.

Launching on New Year’s Eve, Tucker describes the Murano TV commercial as having elements purposely selected to bring to life of the design and features of the midsize CUV.

In the commercial, two couples set out for a night on the town in a Murano, which transforms into a club while they’re inside.

The club’s lounge chairs are the Murano’s zero-gravity seats and its table the CUV’s center console with ambient lighting.

“Every single element of the car comes to life in a very, very purposeful way,” Tucker says. “(The commercial) really brings to life our strategy of innovation that excites.”

[email protected]