• by Karl Greenberg , April 13, 2007

Lexus is reaching out to 18- to-34-year-old gamers through an arrangement with game-developer Atari, a New York-based subsidiary of Infogrames Entertainment SA, based in France.

Atari this week is launching a free, downloadable test-drive patch for its "Test Drive Unlimited" multi-player game. The Lexus download, "Lexus Car Pack," available at Xbox Live Marketplace, is for Xbox 360 owners who have also purchased "Test Drive Unlimited."

Atari, which inked the deal with Lexus last year, will roll out five virtual versions of Lexus vehicles, starting with Lexus GS 450h hybrid-powered luxury sport sedan and Lexus LS 460 premium luxury sedan. Stephen Baer, senior product manager at Atari, says more Lexus vehicles will be included in the program later. Coming are virtual versions of Lexus' SC 430 convertible and the new 2008 LS 600h L, a hybrid V8 sedan, on sale this spring.

The effort, Lexus' only gaming initiative, is part of a broad push to promote the brand as a performance marquee, as it prepares to roll out its first-ever performance sub-brand, "F", next year.

"The reason this was appealing was that, first of all it was quite a nice organic fit since it's truly a driving game," says Brian Bolain, national interactive and contextual marketing manager for the Torrance, Calif., division of Toyota. "We get a lot of proposals where you pay to have your vehicle in a game, but it's not--to borrow from my title--'contextual'."

Lexus doesn't just have its cars in the game but also a Lexus dealership where, if a player earns enough points, he or she can go to pick up one of the Lexus vehicles. "So it involves us in a multi-dimensional way." Bolain says that, before the IS 350 went on sale last November, there were already "customers" lined up at the virtual dealership within the game.

The goal for this and other ventures, per Bolain, is to enhance Lexus' image as a fun-to-drive brand. "We are trying to reach a younger buyer with the new IS, and then for the F-series IS next year. " He adds that Lexus will also, for the first time, have a presence in the SEMA show in Las Vegas, typically a magnet for younger import-tuner fans, where Lexus will have the game available to attendees to play.

"And this time next year we will launch our first performance-driving events," Bolain says, adding that these will be in addition to the long-running "Taste of Lexus" lifestyle tour that pairs Lexus vehicles with luxury brands from cigars to haute cuisine.

Atari's Baer says "Test Drive Unlimited," which launched last September for Xbox 360, has some half a million owners worldwide. He adds that console games are now strong marketing platforms because they are linked to the Internet for real-time gaming, allowing for potentially huge communities of gamers with similar interests. Also, a trend toward game-makers' creating their own online content sites, à la Xbox Live Marketplace, offers up a large base of consumers.

"The industry has certainly changed a lot over the last year or two to where more and more content is available through the platform provider. We are staying on the forefront of this," he says, adding that Atari is working with multiple brands to offer owners of Atari games for Xbox 360 and other platforms free, branded content. "Whether it's Xbox 360, Sony's PS2, or Nintendo's Wii, each has huge server bases." He says the Lexus arrangement is limited now to Xbox36.

The free "Lexus Car Pack" patch lets gamers either use virtual versions of Lexus' new models within "Test Drive Unlimited" online races with others Web-connected players or in various preset challenges and luxury test drives.

"Although there's not really one consumer demographic for Xbox 360," says Baer, "we are very focused on 18- to-34-year olds." He says that downloads for the free content, first launched to time with the market debut of the IS 350 last year, had reached 150,000 two weeks ago.

He says Atari is promoting the Lexus content via online trailers, "much like movie trailers," as well as a push on Atari and Lexus community forums. He says Atari will also promote and host Lexus-vehicle races in the "Test Drive Unlimited" game for people who have downloaded the Lexus pack, "so thousands of people can play it at any given time."