The digital space is a notoriously grey area for all types of regulation. However, the ASA took an important step to ensure the accuracy of online content used by brands with a new set of regulations effective from March 2011.This placed the onus on advertisers to only describe user-generated music as such if it derives from authentic members of the public. The ‘policing' extends beyond paid digital channels such as online ads, websites and micro-sites to social spaces such as brand Facebook pages and Tweets.Long before these regulations came into effect Nissan UK was acting as its own watchdog, with a strict policy regarding the authenticity of all online content.Little policing was required with the ‘Behind the Hit’ Campaign. Communications from users were focused on their participation in the competition and the brand was kept in the background. There were hyper-links to the Nissan Juke website but there were no overt parallels drawn with the performance of the car. Rather, users were left to draw their own conclusions about the relationship between the buzz of the music promotion and the excitement of owning the car.

Behind the Hit invited people to create and share an original music track on their computer, mobile and iPad.

The incentive was to work alongside Grammy award winners La Roux to perfect the track in the studio, ready for a live performance at Camden’s Koko Club.We had planned a major online ad campaign. However La Roux’s credibility ensured the blogosphere were engaged and we benefitted massively from their earned coverage.Competition was also key. Entrants implored their Facebook and Twitter followers to vote for their track, ensuring the campaign quickly became powerfully contagious.

Prior to Behind the Hit, the waiting time for a Nissan Juke was 3 months. Immediately after the campaign, that increased to 4 months.Amongst our target market there was 8% uplift in awareness of Juke as a newly launched car (and 12% uplift in prompted awareness among Spotify listeners).17% of Spotify listeners would be more likely to consider the Juke for their next car purchase and 27% associate the marque with music.

Thanks to its social power, 10.7m unique users were exposed to the digital campaign – 30% more than our target.96,074 people engaged with Behind the Hit, either creating a track or voting (6% higher than the benchmark set by Nissan’s most successful previous digital campaign). These figures do not include the thousands more who engaged via social media.Earned media coverage extended from specialist sites (Bring the Noise, Digital Spy, CNET) through to national press (Sunday Mirror, Mail on Sunday, Evening Standard, OK Magazine) and even to broadcast media (BBC Radios 1&6, Sky News, MTV news).Maybe most important of all, we have created a seismic shift towards branded content in the automotive sector, creating a genuine value exchange.