• by Tanya Gazdik , March 2, 2016

Lexus highlights its sponsorship of Time Inc.’s documentary series “A Year in Space” with a custom spot featuring footage from historical space homecomings.

After a record-breaking 340 days in space, astronaut Scott Kelly arrived home safe March 1, with a live stream of the landing broadcast on Time.com. The new 60-second spot, from Lexus’ agency of record Team One, ran as an introduction to the livestream.

Accompanied by a poignant soundtrack (A remake of Diddy and Skylar Grey’s “Coming Home”) the spot is contextually relevant and ties an emotional link between the astronaut’s return home and the safety features of the RX, with voiceover stating, “while others keep our astronauts safe, we’ll help take care of our future astronauts.”

The dramatic spot touts the all-new Lexus RX as “the official luxury crossover of getting home safe.” The custom content hub also showcases Lexus Safety System.

The spot is a part of a larger three-month sponsorship with Time “A Year in Space,” which began in January and will run until the end of March. The spot is also live on the Lexus YouTube channel and on the Lexus branded tab on the Time “A Year in Space” page, says Brian Bolain, general manager, Lexus product and consumer marketing.

“Space is a universal fascination and represents achievement in technology and innovation,” Bolain tells Marketing Daily. “Lexus models, including the all-new RX, offer advanced safety and technology features, and this partnership with Time allowed us to reach an engaged, culturally savvy audience in a contextually relevant way. A safe return home is something we can connect to, making the Time live stream sponsorship a natural fit.”

The full 60-second spot will live within a separate section of the “A Year in Space” site until 3/31/16. The 30-second version of the spot will continue to run as pre-roll to each of the available episodes of “A Year in Space” until March 31. A custom ad that features a similar emotional message of getting home safe will be featured in the March 21 issue of Time.