Before leaving Tokyo, an urgent meeting was called for by Nissan and this was chaired by Osawa-San and attended by the Abu Dhabi dealers’ delegation, Standard Advertising and Youssef Habbab. Nissan agreed to go ahead with the Abu Dhabi shoot, stressing that it was entrusting us all with the first TV commercial to ever be produced in the Middle East. It further explained that it would ship over two new Nissan Patrols, which would be tightly covered and wrapped, insisting that these needed to be shipped back to Japan when the production had been completed. Senior Nissan Motor Company executives requested that a professional 4×4 driver be hired and briefed on how to handle the vehicles by their engineers, who would fly to Abu Dhabi for the shoot. The meeting concluded with Nissan and Al Masaood insisting that Intermarkets urgently develop a storyboard that positioned the new Patrol as the Arabian desert’s indisputable hero. This should then be rushed to the two clients for approval.
Intermarkets Kuwait’s creative director was an Iraqi who had lived in Kuwait since childhood. This meant he had a strong affinity with the GCC’s youth and their fast-changing lifestyle. Mustafa Jaafar pictured the Nissan Patrol as the logical replacement of the thoroughbred horses that their ancestors had taken pride in owning and riding. The big idea struck his drawing pad like a bolt of lightning and the falcon hunt storyboard instantly took shape and was quickly approved.
Gulf Arabs loved hunting. They traveled deep into the Empty Quarter or even to Pakistan with their falcons, which they used to hunt partridge, rabbits and even gazelles. This is what inspired Mustafa to suggest that the new Patrol be the hero of a falcon hunt. When the agency and Al Masaood approved the storyboard, it was rushed to Japan, where it was eagerly awaited.
Japan’s approval took much longer than expected and this worried us all. But we finally received the approval and discovered that our storyboard had been shared with Nissan Australia, where the Patrol was its best-selling model, too. The Australians wanted to come onboard, share the production cost, and use the commercial if we supplied them with their own version. That version would show the Patrol driver and his pilot in European hunting gear, and the scene featuring the falcon capturing the pigeon would be replaced to avoid the risk of backlash from animal protection lobbies. We agreed to their request and excitedly began preparing for a dual production.
As zero hour approached, major surprises began to spring up. The morning after the arrival of the two Nissan Patrols at Abu Dhabi Port, we received a panicky call from David Radcliff alerting us to the fact that one of the customs officers at Abu Dhabi Port had read the fine print on the cargo manifest and realized that the covered vehicles were new Patrols. Knowing that Sheikh Zayed had always wanted to personally drive the first cars to arrive in the UAE, he called the Presidential Palace and requested they break the news to His Highness. Minutes after this leak, Sheikh Zayed called Masaood Ahmad Al Masaood, the head of the family, asking him to send the two new Patrols to his palace. This message was urgently relayed to Osawa-San.
Following several long-distance conference calls, Nissan was persuaded by its respected Abu Dhabi dealer to agree to the UAE Ruler’s request. The locally knowledgeable Norio Osawa insisted that Masaood Ahmad Al Masaood call Sheikh Zayed and explain that the two vehicles were to be used to film a commercial that would take three days. When completed, the two new vehicles would be delivered to the Sheikh’s palace.
The shooting site was – as earlier suggested by Al Masaood – at Bidaa Zayed, an area of magnificent sand dunes close to Liwa. The Patrols had been transported to the site under the cover of darkness as promised. On the morning of the first shoot day, when the hero driver had begun his trial runs up the highest dune using an old Patrol supplied by Al Masaood, we saw a crowd of villagers begin to creep out of nowhere. The nearest village was miles away, but they sat on the side of the dune facing the challenge track. By the time the new Patrol had begun to be filmed, the slope facing the camera crew was crowded with young villagers. Then, when the film director gave the sign for the first break, one of the villagers approached him and asked if he could get closer to the new Patrol. After consulting with the Nissan and Al Masaood teams at the shoot, the director gave his approval on the condition that they did not touch the car.
It was an impressive site to watch the spectators approach the parked Patrol in single file. One by one they would lie on their backs, creep underneath the vehicle in what appeared to be an inspection of the underbody, then stand up on the other side, before walking back to the slope and exchanging observations with their colleagues. When the director called for the resumption of the shoot, all of them peacefully returned to their original places. The story of the film – at least the GCC version – was planned to end with the falcon catching a pigeon in mid-air. An employee of the film production company went to the Dubai Municipality Animal & Birds Market from where he purchased 12 pigeons and brought them to the shoot location in a large cage. The director had flown from France accompanied by a world-renowned falconer who had brought one of his finest falcons. At that time of year, the falcons of the Gulf were shedding their feathers, with a new coat beginning to replace the old.
The second day was dedicated to the falcon chase scene. The weather in Bidaa Zayed had been warm and sunny the previous day, so the shooting started early and when the director gave the order for the camera to roll the falconer released his hunting bird for the first time since its arrival in the UAE. This was a test flight to allow the cameraman to practice the swivel of his camera, with the aim of keeping the falcon within his frame. The falcon soared high and kept climbing until it flew away and we lost sight of it over the horizon. The falconer and his local assistant jumped into one of the old Nissan Patrols and chased it. After more than five hours, they returned exhausted. In their absence the production had come to a standstill and the falconer concluded that his favorite falcon, which was accustomed to cold European weather, had flown higher and higher in search of cooler air. It had stayed at that altitude until it was exhausted, then flew down to the homer on the wrist of its handler. Had it not been for the device planted under its skin, it would have been lost. The production schedule, however, was now delayed by a full day.
Early next morning, the falconer woke up before sunrise and practiced with his falcon until he was sure he had regained full control over the bird. Then came the time to film and when the first pigeon was released it was caught and killed by the falcon before the cameraman had even switched on his camera. Because everyone was rushing to complete this shot before the mid-day heat kicked in, the exercise was repeated quickly 11 times, with no luck. The production was stopped as the assistants drove back to Abu Dhabi to get another supply of pigeons, which meant the second day was lost as well.
Early on the third morning, a convoy of Emiri Guard Land Rovers arrived at the production site. The group was led by a major general who announced that he’d come for the two new Patrols that Sheikh Zayed was eagerly awaiting. We all rushed to explain our predicament to the officer, but our collective effort failed, so David Radcliff had to use the Land Rover’s military wireless to contact his boss. After a long explanation, Masaood Ahmad Al Masaood called Sheikh Zayed and asked for his permission to delay the delivery by a couple of days, explaining the reasons for the delay, which led to loud laughter between them. Only when the palace called the Emiri Guards’ chief, did we got the green light to resume the shoot.
After a month, the new Nissan Patrol commercial was released on all GCC television stations, and the entire first shipment was sold out within a week.