How Nissan is using TikTok Now, the BeReal clone, for March Madness

Nissan is once again partnering with the NCAA’s March Madness basketball tournament to take its vehicles on the “Road 2 the Final Four.” For this year’s tournament, the automaker will bring a new TikTok feature along for the ride.

Nissan will become the first brand to integrate the platform’s “TikTok Now” feature—TikTok’s answer to the BeReal craze that swept across social media late last year—into a campaign, according to Nissan. The feature, similar to BeReal, prompts TikTok users at a random time each day to capture a photo or video of whatever they’re doing at the time using both the front and rear cameras of their phone.

Nissan will use the feature in an attempt to make connections with fans watching games. Throughout the tournament, TikTok will time its daily prompts to “key moments” of March Madness, and fans who then upload those photos or short videos to Instagram will be entered for a chance to win tickets to the Final Four of next year’s tournament, according to a press release.

“We’re thrilled to show our commitment to continuous innovation with a first-of-its-kind TikTok campaign,” stated Allyson Witherspoon, VP and chief marketing officer of Nissan U.S.

The platform launched its TikTok Now feature in September in response to the surging popularity of BeReal, a French social media app that users flocked to for its refreshingly authentic approach to social media. In 2022, more than 40 million people downloaded the app, including nearly 15 million in September alone, according to Influencer Marketing Hub.

Brands such as Chipotle and e.l.f Cosmetics have experimented with BeReal in their social media strategies. Brands using TikTok Now include Eos, which has used it to share additional, behind-the-scenes style content alongside TikTok videos. The hype surrounding BeReal seems to have gradually diminished in 2023, however. 

Nissan has been leaning into TikTok as a core part of its social media strategy. The automaker recently launched a TikTok-first campaign to promote the launch of its Nissan Ariya electric vehicle. Nissan's lead agencyTBWA\Chiat\Day was part of that effort and is also involved in the new campaign. 

Beyond TikTok Now, Nissan’s March Madness campaign will include six TV ads  featuring over a dozen college basketball team mascots riding in various Nissan vehicles on the “Road 2 the Final Four.” Each commercial involves a different mix of mascots—from The Ohio State University’s Brutus Buckeye to the University of Notre Dame's Leprechaun—as well as University of Southern California head women’s basketball coach Lindsay Gottlieb and former professional basketball players Candace Parker and Kenny Smith, who has been part of the CBS/Turner March Madness broadcast team. Nissan will begin airing the ads on March 10. 

Both Ohio State and Notre Dame are longshots to make the men's NCAA tournament this year, so the ads might be the closest that fans of those schools get to the madness.