Darkride for Lexus
Concept ┃ Creative direction ┃ Marketing strategySummary
Together with NYC-based agency Skinny, I was tasked by Lexus to launch their new hybrid car Lexus CT200h in the US, with focus on a young digitally savvy audience. To build awareness and hype before the launch, we created two parallell marketing campaigns.
First, we created a never-done-before virtual test drive so that consumers could experience the car months before it was available at dealerships. In the interactive action movie Darkride, the consumer got to insert themselves into the film as the protagonist riding shotgun and guiding the driver (played by actor Norman Reedus) through a series of adventures in the Nevada desert and Los Angeles. Consumers could use an array of interactive features, allowing them to insert their own likeness (via Webcam or profile pic), record their own dialogue lines, control the camera movement in a 260-degree POV, and make decisions that alter the path of the movie so new situations arise each time.
In a second step, we released the in-car talk show Darkcasting hosted by famous comedian Whitney Cummings, combining content marketing, influencer marketing and local market activation as a way to recruit more fans and help turn the car into the best selling hybrid in America.
Approach
How do you make a hybrid car “cool” to a young, tech savvy audience long before Tesla became a thing? This was an exciting challenge that we faced - and even more challenging since the car wasn’t available to test drive or even watch.
Our strategy was to create something memorable, and equally entertaining as it was informative, with the objective to build awareness around the CT200h while changing the perception of Lexus as a “car for grown-ups”. We drove traffic via social media & display campaigns and effective PR initiatives, all while creating exclusive high-quality content and using the pull effect from the celebrities and influencers starring in both campaigns (e.g. Hollywood actors Norman Reedus and Rosaria Dawson, comedian Whitney Cummings and singer Christina Perri). Through email nurturing campaigns, we then offered users the ‘exclusive opportunity’ to test drive the car before it became available on the market, leading to huge interest in the car and record breaking sign-ups.
Results
Lexus Darkride was one of the first interactive film experiences online, and the first in a big Hollywood blockbuster context. After the campaigns, Lexus CT200h garnered the highest number of handraisers in Lexus’ history and became the best selling hybrid in America. The film won The FWA’s People’s Choice Site of the Year, the jury’s Site of the Month and was shortlisted at Cannes for Best Interactive Film.
The campaigns were praised with great reviews in NY Times, Variety, Cool Hunter, Creatity Magazine, Digital Buzz and even got recognition in Resumé in Sweden. Wall Street Journal celebrated Lexus for being “At the forefront of automotive marketing” due to our work. The campaign was also listed #1 on Adcritic for several weeks.
Selected work
Afterglow for Philips
NewGlue
Robin by Eniro