The first spot, developed by Saatchi & Saatchi Taiwan, depicts dragsters kicking dust across desert lakebeds and jet fighters spewing vapor plumes across the skies, with the voiceover telling viewers: “Fast is violent… fast is gritty… fast is explosive… this is the new fast.”
According to David Ma, head of Saatchis & Saatchi TeamOne, a dedicated Lexus unit within the agency, the campaign is setting out to enhance consumer awareness of the marques’s power credentials. “Taiwan car buyers think of Lexus as a luxury car, not as a high performance vehicle,” he said, noting that the decision to kick off a new communications platform coincided with a mid-life revamp for the brand, which saw a redesigned power train with an eight-speed transmission.
He added that the focus on high-performance for the GS, complimented the ES’ positioning as a luxury brand, thus enabling Lexus to compete more readily with Mercedes (luxury) and BMW (performance) through a two-pronged approach.
The budget for the GS460 relaunch tops out at approximately NT8 million (US$247,000), with three-quarters of the planned spend expected to fall under ATL, including TV and print. A significant portion of the campaign also includes online, direct mail and events.
Total adspend last year for all Lexus models was NT87.8 million, or 16 per cent of Taiwan’s NT549 million in spend across the automotive sector.
The campaign reflects Lexus’ determination to build its lead in the luxury car sector, with 2007 sales results to October showing a steady lead over Mercedes and BMW.
The Lexus franchise has garnered a 30 per cent share of the luxury market with 6,406 units sold from 1 January to 20 October. In contrast, Mercedes and BMW have emerged as neck-and-neck contenders for second place on the league ladder, with 23.6 and 23.4 per cent respectively.
Automobile adspend has dropped precipitously over the first nine months of this year, with TV spend down by a remarkable 57 per cent, and overall automobile spend down by almost 15 per cent.
