Asia-Pacific Power List 2025: Yukiko Otani, Nissan

Yukiko Otani

Division general manager, marketing
Nissan Japan
Japan
New member  

In Japan’s highly competitive EV market, Nissan has maintained its pole position—even with global players like Tesla and BYD aggressively entering the scene. In 2024, the automaker held onto its crown as the country’s top-selling EV brand for the third consecutive year, led by the continued dominance of its Sakura model.

As CMO of Nissan Japan, Yukiko Otani has played a central role in accelerating the company’s brand transformation by championing a data-driven approach, and leveraging real-time consumer insights to track shifts in EV demand, monitoring interest in domestic vs foreign competitors, and responding swiftly to changes in the market—such as BYD’s entry into Japan. One way she did this was by aligning customer data management with the media and retail journey, effectively unifying previously siloed lead generation and nurturing flows into a cohesive end-to-end experience. 

Riding on EV demand, Otani led the R32EV project where a legacy model was revived as an EV prototype. The initiative captured global attention through the passionate storytelling of Nissan’s engineers, who sought to recapture the spirit of the iconic R32 Skyline GT-R. Otani recognised the power of this emotional narrative, turning what began as an internal experiment into a highly visible brand storytelling campaign that earned record-breaking engagement across both domestic and international media.

To mark Nissan’s 90th birthday, Otani and her team launched the ‘Nissan Love Story’ campaign which comprised the production of over 10 types of tailored video content from vertical shorts for Gen Z to nostalgia-driven recreations for fans of ‘80s and ‘90s Japanese car culture. Each execution was adapted to viewing behaviors, emotional triggers, and platform norms. The campaign achieved the highest engagement in Nissan’s YouTube history, and significantly improved brand sentiment.

Perhaps Otani’s most far-reaching achievement is the Green Journey programme, a new model she established to promote cross-sector collaboration. The carbon-neutral travel initiative brought together 14 organisations—including railway operators, municipalities, and leading corporations—under a shared mission to reinvent the customer experience through sustainability and co-creation. Through this programme, Otani demonstrates that she’s not just a driver of business results—but is a unifying force at Nissan between innovation, purpose, and social progress.