automotive

Lexus Brings Back L/Studio

Red Band Trailer

 

Lexus is debuting season four of its L/Studio Web channel. The Web-based entertainment platform, which was launched initially in 2008, has a range of video episodic content -- both narrative and documentary. The newest content will be a revamp of the "Red Band Trailer" talk-show format with celebrity guests sitting in screenwriter Diablo Cody's Airstream trailer in his backyard.

In the new series Cody interviews John Krasinski, Jack Black, Zooey Deschanel, Joel McHale, Amanda Seyfried and Sarah Silverman. But don't look too closely for Lexus vehicles or branding, or you might need glasses.

The site also continues the "Web Therapy" video series, featuring a cast of actors who were once regulars on "Friends" -- including Lisa Kudrow as the therapist, with the conceit that she is actually not a therapist at all and refuses to do sessions that last longer than three minutes, which works since they are all online chat-video sessions where the viewer gets to watch all of the Philadelphia relationships unravel on desktop.

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Other L/Studio content, which is divvied up under Featured, Humor, Arts/Music, Modern Life and Experiential includes such Amy B. Harris' "Puppy Love," "Films on L," a collection of short films from around the world, will.i.am's "The Sessions Project." In addition to new episodes of the latter "Sessions" program, the L/Studio will also have new "Conversation Portraits" content, including an interview with Keith Richards.

"Web Therapy" became the first branded content series to migrate to a premium cable network (Showtime). The series was also recognized by Fast Company as the Web's best branded entertainment (September 2010).

Said Brian Smith, SV marketing for Lexus, in a statement: "When we launched the channel in 2008, we never dreamed it would be such a game-changer ... Studio has become a major player not just in branded entertainment, but in digital entertainment." Okay, but where are the Lexae?

It's actually not that hard to find. While the automaker made a point not to make L/Studio a vehicle for heavy advertising or a digital refrigerator for magnetic Lexus brand logos, specific videos actually deal with the automaker's cars and brand equity, albeit obliquely. There is, for instance, "Dark Ride," a video drama about a guy tasked with delivering a Lexus CT 200h prototype hybrid from the desert of Nevada to a "safe house" in L.A. There is also a featured video on the joint venture between Lexus and San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel to develop a sustainable hotel program called Lexus Hybrid Suite, which involves Lexus but really features environmentally conscious designer Kelly LaPlante.

And there is the subtle branding around Lexus' "Pursuit of Perfection" brand equity (yes, I know it's now "Engineering the Impossible"). For instance, there's a video feature about a Navy SEAL who does ultra marathon races and talks about what it takes to do a 150-mile race.

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