In its latest campaign for Lexus, El Segundo, CA-based Team One Advertising uses humor and the Web to set the luxury car apart from its competition.

The campaign includes six 15-second commercials directed by Noam Murro of HKM in Hollywood, and concentrates on the other drivers who make roads unsafe. In one ad, a slacker changes his shirt behind the wheel, while in another, a businessman talks on his cell phone and types on a computer rather than minding the road. The spots direct the viewer to a Web site, www.lexussafety.com. Tom Cordner, cochairman and executive creative director at Team One, explains this creative approach for what he calls a tactical campaign.

"We could have done ads rolling the car or crashing it into things, but the net net of that is it doesn't register as strong as we would like because it is a bit too commonplace," says Cordner. "So, we said, hey, there are crazy drivers out there."

Based on this and the fact that Team One's research said luxury car buyers see themselves as safe drivers, the concept of focusing on "the other guy" was chosen for the campaign. Cordner adds that linking the TV spots to a Web site made sense for potential luxury car buyers.

"If you go to the Web site, you are inside of the Lexus site; not only do viewers see that Lexus is committed to safety, [viewers] are now in the architecture of the Web page and can see models or financing," says Cordner. "Lexus uses the Internet to communicate with [its] consumers because [it wants] to be communicated with that way."

Cordner says Lexus spends about US$80 million a year on advertising (about US$120 million, including the dealers association); he says that about 70% of that budget is focused on TV advertising. TV will remain the advertising focus for the car maker until the Internet becomes more viable, says Cordner.

"When we can do more graphically and get more information across on the Internet, like running commercials, then we will do that," says Cordner. "Lexus will go [towards Internet advertising] along with everyone else."

The company is not planning more TV advertising until July, when Lexus will launch its IS model. Since the campaign will be promoting a new car, Cordner says the spots will be less focused than the current branding campaign focusing on safety.

Team One is a division of Saatchi & Saatchi. The agency handles all advertising for Lexus, and has worked with the company since 1988, a year before the car was launched by Toyota.

WEB.FILES:
Team One Advertising: http://www.teamoneadv.com
Lexus: http://www.lexus.com