Lexus has released the second installment of their global marketing campaign — this time, it’s a collaboration with KMEL Robotics in the aptly-titled SWARM:
Like the earlier STEPS commercial, this video doesn’t feature a Lexus vehicle at all — but instead of giant puppets, it’s a swarm of tiny quadrocopters escaping from museums and buildings to interacting with the world. It’s whimsical, fun to watch, and feels less like a commercial and more like a movie fragment.
The effort in making this video is extraordinary. There are three behind-the-scenes videos showing how SWARM was created — look closely and you can see the LFA’s tri-exhaust design cue on the quadtrocopters:
With similar initiatives like Lexus Short Films and the new INTERSECT brand spaces, Lexus is incredibly focused on building emotion into its brand — it reminds me of a quote from Lexus International vice-president Mark Templin at the opening of INTERSECT in Tokyo:
We may do a lot of things that people don’t understand right away. When we started all these design projects, we knew there would be a lot of traditional car people that would say “what are they thinking?”
All we ask is that they let it play out for a few years. We have a strategic vision of where we want to go, and we’re starting to lay the groundwork. It’s not the traditional approach to selling cars — this isn’t about incentives or selling as many cars as we can. It’s about building a stronger brand.
No discussion thread for this article yet.