The desert is not for beginners. The first rule of off-road driving is to go in convoy. However, many inexperienced drivers go alone, their overconfidence makes them believe that any 4x4 vehicle can get out onto the dunes, when in reality, not all 4x4’s are created equal, and driving in the desert requires a small amount of skill and technical knowledge. Most of these beginners end up stuck and need help getting unstuck. We believe that no-one should get stuck in the desert, so we created the Unstuck poster.

One of the first methods to help a stuck vehicle is to place a rock or other item (e.g a plank of wood) underneath the tyre to help it gain traction instead of spinning and digging further into the sand.

The idea of the Unstuck poster is that it also works as a traction mat which can be placed under the stuck tyre. The poster also included a radio transmitter so if necessary, at the push of a button on the poster, the driver will be able to send an emergency call to the Nissan Patrol Squad. If the Patrol Squad is around, they can come to the rescue of the stuck driver.

We were talking to off-roading beginners and infrequent enthusiasts. These people had most probably just moved to the UAE or just started to explore off-roading. They think that all they need to spend a fun day out in the desert is any 4x4.

But not all 4x4’s are created equal. Nissan is the unrivaled “beast of the desert”. It is well known as the most capable 4x4 specifically designed for the Middle East. Our strategy was to give away the poster only to non-Nissan owners, to reinforce our superior off-road expertise and to help them in the case they got stuck, in which case the Unstuck Poster / Traction mat would come to the rescue.

The Unstuck Poster is a mat made of a special type of rubber, with a unique traction pattern. It is manufactured using tailor-made injection moulding. The poster includes a radio transmitter that can send a message within a 1km range. The Patrol rescue squad would be on-call for emergencies during February in the desert outside of Sharjah (near the popular Big Red dunes).

We distributed the Nissan branded mat freely in mini marts, car wash bays, parking lots and other places we know our off-road drivers would be passing by on their way to the desert.

With the Unstuck Poster we reached out to a conquest audience from other competitors car brands across the UAE. The Unstuck Poster was mailed to 125.000 leads from the Nissan database which increase the number of test-drive in 37%. The non-Nissan owners who needed to use the poster told their friends and this created more word-of-mouth.