Nissan was launching the all-new Nissan Maxima, a 4 door sports car for dads. But during the Super Bowl, with 114 million Americans watching, we needed to elevate the conversation and make an emotional connection that was bigger than cars.

So we created a campaign called #withdad. To prove that in today’s world where dads struggle to balance work and home life, it’s not the time apart that defines a family, it’s what you do with the time together.

The campaign started online 10 days before the Super Bowl. To get people talking, we we asked 7 of the most influential dads on YouTube to create a series of #withdad videos with their kids.

Then our 90 second Super Bowl commercial told the emotional story of a race car driver, who manages to maintain the love of his family despite a job that demands time on the road. And in doing so giving the world a first glance at the all-new Nissan Maxima.

Following the commercial, people saw celebrities in their newsfeeds posting #withdad photos, encouraging them to do the same. 17,000 of them did.

In the week after the big game, when most Super Bowl ads faded from memory, Nissan’s started a debate about what it means to be a dad in today’s world. At the end of the week, Nissan’s campaign was voted #1 in YouTube’s AdBlitz, with 59% more votes than the runner up.

For YouTube, by Youtube.

Before the spot aired we partnered with influential YouTube creators to create a series of #withdad videos: Roman Atwood, Action Movie Kid, Dude Perfect, Jabbawockeez, Epic Meal Time, Convos With My 2-Year-Old, and the pranksters at Break. Instead of pushing the content ourselves, we opted to let the videos spread organically, by allowing influencers to release their videos on their own channels to their own audiences of millions of loyal followers. Doing so allowed for a level of authenticity we couldn’t achieve on our own.

The campaign won YouTube’s 2015 AdBlitz; voted overall favorite Super Bowl spot by YouTube viewers (with 59% more votes than the runner up). According to AdWeek, the #1 most viewed branded video in the week after Super Bowl. The ad was the #1 most memorable auto ad and #2 most memorable overall ad in the Super Bowl, according to Nielsen. Over 42K campaign mentions using #withdad included over 17K photos shared. #1 most mentioned brand hashtag on Twitter amongst auto brands, with 5x that of the next competitor.