Nissan Magnite CarJitsu Showdown

Pro League Network

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The 7th Annual Awards

Nominee ✨

• Most Creative Partnership

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ABOUT THIS ENTRY

The Nissan Magnite CarJitsu Showdown was a custom-built, co-created live CarJitsu Championship match taking place in the new Nissan Magnite at the Professional Fighters League’s Road to Dubai in the Coca-Cola Arena in front of 10,000 fans. 

Co-created with Nissan and TBWA/RAAD, PLN supplied the sports architecture — rules, match format, athletes, officials, and live execution — so the Magnite's "space" could be proven under pressure. The match redefined how brands and sports collaborate by putting the product directly into competition — making the car the arena, not a logo around the arena.

PLN created a way for Nissan to connect with fans who skip traditional ads . Rather than asking audiences to believe a claim about interior space, the activation made space unavoidable: every hold, escape, and submission attempt happened inside the cabin, under real rules, in real time.

 

How does this represent "Excellence in Engagement"?

Nissan Magnite CarJitsu Showdown demonstrates excellence in engagement because Pro League Network, TBWA/RAAD and Nissan created a live sporting event that changed the way brands market products. Rather than putting their logo on the broadcast, Nissan Magnite CarJitsu Showdown made the Magnite the center of the action and integral to the fights. The entire activation took places in the Magnite, naturally putting the car and showcasing its features and ability as fans engaged.

More than 17 million people watched the Magnite in action - achieving Nissan's goal of communicating the car's features.  The event generated countless discuss

Objective

With audiences increasingly oversaturated with advertising, Nissan and creative agency TBWA/RAAD aimed to cut through the noise by replacing "tell" with "test." As the brand's most compact SUV, Nissan wanted to showcase intelligent use of space and confident performance in a compact form — by proving roominess under maximum constraint, not in a showroom. PLN's role was to convert that product truth into a legitimate contest fans would accept: a rules-based CarJitsu match where confined space is the condition of play. 

PLN worked with Nissan and TBWA/RAAD to co-create a custom CarJitsu Championship card as part of PLN's sports-first brand model: build a real contest that a combat-sports audience would accept on its own merit, then let the product truth emerge from the rules of play. The goal was a fight-week moment that thrilled the in-person audience and sparked broader sharing — because the "proof" was instantly legible in a single clip.

Strategy & Execution

PLN, Nissan and TBWA/RAAD collaborated to build the Nissan Magnite CarJitsu Showdown by pairing a product truth ("space") with a sport format where confined space is the point. The three partners engaged the Professional Fighters League, identifying it as an opportunity to bring CarJitsu to a live, fight-literate audience — one that would deliver a high-energy setting and accept the competition on its own merit.

The activation featured a prelims-to-finals structure: two preliminary bouts in a closed studio to set matchups, then finals staged at Coca-Cola Arena on Feb. 6 & 7 immediately prior to the PFL championship card — reinforcing that this was built and delivered as sport, not a staged demo.

PLN brought its athletes, officials, and live production infrastructure to Dubai to deliver a rules-based match — sanctioned jiu-jitsu rules featuring holds, escapes, positional battles, and submission attempts (no striking). As the arena, the Magnite enabled storytelling that couldn't be missed or tuned out: instead of sponsoring the action, the Nissan Magnite WAS the action — "space under pressure" captured live.

Organizations

• Pro League Network

  Nissan

  TBWA

Links

•   Website

Featured

• Vincent Bryant

  Laroy Davis

  Jesse Nutting

  Steve Minski

Credits

Mike Salvaris
Co-Founder
Pro League Network

Bill Yucatonis
Co-Founder
Pro League Network

Elan Saratovsky
Social Media Director
Pro League Network

Derek Green
Chief Creative Officer
TBWA/RAAD

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