Lexus & the Art of the Soft Sell
With its new L Studio, Lexus may be well on its way to creating its own independent film channel, and changing the way we view brand interaction with audiences on the web.Latest from LStudio
I’m trying to envision the pitch meeting for this now…Try explaining to a client that you are going to dump a large investment into creating webisodes with major tv stars. You are allowing them to improvise the script. There’s no large branding presence on the site, and your product is hardly shown at all. You’ll also be opening the site up to other film makers who would not be using your brand references at all. Sounds crazy, right?
Yet, crazy is actually working out pretty well for Lexus with its new L Studio site, which is becoming wildly popular on the web. It’s working because web audiences have had a bellyful of crass, overdone marketing messages. They are responding only when brands bring good content and useful material. In this case, Lexus is also doing something worthwhile, putting their marketing dollars behind helping independent film makers get an audience for their work. It’s a really fresh way of looking at online content. It is also being promoted using smart channels, like its Lexus lifestyle magazine, dealer emails, and the like. It’s a program promoted mainly through pr channels. Further proof, I say, that PR is going to emerge as a dominant player in the marketing mix of the future.
