Nissan, the maker of the city's next model taxicab, said it will be using the boxy van in an ad campaign to help brand the company as innovators to be showcase the company's innovation.

Last year, Nissan's NV200 van won the city's design competition for all new New York City yellow cabs, which are expected to hit city streets next year.

Among the taxi's novel features are passenger airbags designed to work around the partition, exterior alert lights when a door is opened, independent passenger climate controls and more cargo room than a large sedan.

The car company’s advertising campaign will include huge billboards throughout the city around town, social media outreach and signs on existing taxi rooftops. It will also tie in the company's launch of five new vehicles over the next 15 months.

One of the other aims of the campaign is to get people to visit one of the new taxis at next month's New York International Auto Show.

Nissan's confidence in attaching its brand so closely with the city is seen as a sign of how big a draw New York has become for advertisers.