• by Karl Greenberg , April 7, 2014

The campaign features a new TV spot chasing after the RC F, the LFA, the IS F Sport and the GS F Sport. El Segunda, Calif.-based TeamOne is Lexus' agency of record.

The new general market spot touts the line as the Hyde to Lexus' better-known Dr. Jekyl reputation for quality and a reliable luxury, a rational driver but not exactly a passion driver. Actually, Lexus has been trying to inject emotional into the brand with new, more outré vehicle designs, a focus on performance embodied by the F lineup, and marketing communications that are younger and urban, less Boomer and urbane. Even for the new Lexus CT hybrid, there has been an exciting Gen Y message with a content campaign on Thrillist focused on urban happenings, and for RC-F, a hybrid digital/print tie-in with the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, its L Studio branded content arts and entertainment digital magazine.

The new ad exemplifies all of that through a series of frenetic vignettes aligning the different cars with, respectively, the impetuous and fickle eroticism of youth, a prestige IPO/boutique-hotel cool, the thrill-seeking-guy-stuck-in-a-limo-zeitgeist, and a racetrack Walter Mitty with torque-twitch/G-force jitters. 

First is a couple kissing passionately against a wall in an empty alley in the pouring rain. The man sees an RC F pulling out of a garage across the street and his passion crosses the street, too. Voiceover: “F provokes lust.” Then a gray GS F Sport pulls up in front of a hotel valet stand. The driver tosses his keys to the guy and walks into the building avec arm candy. Here a VO says, “Elicits pride.” Then we see a guy peering through the window at a yellow LFA pulling up next to him. He wishes he was over there behind the wheel. “Incites envy” is the voiceover. Finally, a guy is in an F Sport at a railroad crossing. Agitation sets in. “Unleashes wrath.” The train clears, tires spin, and he tears out down the road. All four vehicles pull into an empty parking garage at the end. 

Lexus says the TV ad gets the green flag today on prime time, late night, cable programs and network and cable sports. There will also be multichannel advertising with NHL on NBC Sports/NHL Network and NCAA basketball on CBS, per Lexus.

Performance message print will roll onto the pages of Sports Illustrated, Vogue and Motor Trend, and Lexus will do an event at Coachella via partnership with Details. And there's going to be a big digital presence that includes a a pair of content plays: one is an MSN video series about extreme performance seekers, the other a Motor Trend branded-content series examining the Lexus F differentiators (versus the more tame Lexus.)  

Lexus will also do full-motion video boards at DC Gallery Place and digital boards in New York City’s Times Square. And there are elements will run in MLB, MLS, NBA and NHL stadiums in 10 Lexus markets with a PA announcement, video board presence and dynamic signage during a break in the action.