Together with Lexus, global creative and brand-engineering agency ATTIK detailed the multifaceted marketing campaign which has positioned the 2008 Lexus IS F luxury high-performance sedan, which arrived in dealer showrooms across the U.S. last month, as an exciting new choice for sports car enthusiasts.
The 2008 Lexus IS F high-performance sedan is the first production model to wear the brand's new "F" marque. Based on the robust IS sport sedan platform, the 2008 IS F delivers 416 horsepower from a specially engineered 5.0-liter V8 engine and will accelerate from zero-to-60 mph in 4.6 seconds. In addition to the exclusive V8, the 2008 IS F's performance credentials include racetrack-developed suspension and braking, and a specially calibrated version of the advanced Vehicle Dynamics Integrated Management system.
Under the direction of ATTIK co-founder and creative director Simon Needham, ATTIK's team began working closely with Lexus last year to develop a multi-stage marketing campaign that would properly position the new vehicle among automotive enthusiasts. As he explained, "The creative approach we chose begins by asking the question, 'What is F?' Using many different creative facets in various media channels chosen for their ability to effectively reach our targets at key places and times, the car's main performance and design features themselves consistently drive home the campaign tagline of 'F is everything you thought we weren't.'"
"We challenged ATTIK to craft a fresh look for the campaign, befitting the IS F's meaning to the Lexus brand," said Dave Nordstrom, Lexus vice president of marketing. "We think the resulting dramatic, aggressive tone hit the mark."
ATTIK's campaign began last October, when the agency created and launched the custom microsite which serves as the campaign's focal point and continues to be updated with new content. Having debuted before any actual IS F production vehicles became available, the immersive site initially utilized product- correct CAD models which were rendered, textured and lit in enough detail to provide a robust rich-media experience.
ATTIK's campaign tag and copy lines were used along with the models in pre-launch print ads, which ran in auto-enthusiast targeted publications available at November's 2007 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, as well as in signage used throughout the SEMA Show. "According to information we've received," Needham confirmed, "the pre-launch effort helped to completely sell-out the initial IS F inventory prior to its official on-sale date earlier this year."
Early this year, ATTIK's team began readying its next set of campaign elements. Needham himself has directed numerous commercials for the agency's award-winning Scion account over the past several years, and for the Lexus IS F campaign, he once again stepped behind the camera lens. He crafted a series of six :15 ads specifically to take advantage of the big-screen environments and movie theatre surround-sound capabilities in order to cinematically hail the vehicle's most thrilling attributes. All six spots debuted last month via National CineMedia's FirstLook pre-feature program, the largest digital in-theatre network in North America, which is screening the spots on more than 13,200 screens nationwide.
Those same spots are being picked up by various Lexus distributors outside of the U.S., including Australia, Puerto Rico and Canada, and are also appearing on high-profile broadcast venues as well as online on the CBS Sports March Madness website as pre-rolls ahead of featured videos.
Other key campaign elements delivered by ATTIK include print ads, outdoor billboards, innovative online ads and dealer assets.
Complementing the cinema ads' aesthetic and featuring the campaign tag and copy lines, the newest outdoor ads currently appear in Los Angeles, New York, Miami and Chicago. Online ads began appearing last week, allowing users to interact with the IS F's accelerator, brake and quick-shifting features to demonstrate vehicle performance - where clickthroughs lead to the IS F microsite. For dealers, ATTIK also produced campaign-themed banner stands and floor-clings showing IS F tire tracks.