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The European launch of the new Lexus NX, a SUV crossover car, in September 2014 saw Lexus look to target a new conquest audience and customer group; one that was highly sophisticated and at the very cutting-edge of technology and design. Amaze worked with other core agencies to unveil the NX in line with Lexus’ integrated ‘Striking Angles’ campaign, a campaign which also featured at its forefront, singer and technology philanthropist will-i-am.

Challenging the preconceptions of this new audience, Amaze’s approach was to command its attention early on, to drive awareness and intrigue that would generate significant leads ahead of the car’s physical arrival. To do this it had to digitally push the boundaries; creating a ground-breaking digital interaction that showcased the unique design and driving experience of the NX.

Amaze blended computer-generated imagery (CGI) and Oculus Rift (OR) technology to develop two highly immersive experiences that would allow customers to virtually test drive and configure the new NX, before the car was physically available in showrooms. In development for nearly a year, the end result was an example of how brands can truly blur the lines of virtual and reality for its customers.

The Lexus NX is a new SUV crossover car which launched from September 2014 throughout Europe. Working alongside other core agencies, our challenge was to launch the NX range online, through the integrated ‘Striking Angles’ campaign.

As much modern art as car, the launch targeted a new conquest audience for the brand, highly sophisticated consumers of media, technology and design – one that lives and breathes the cutting edge.
• Target a new, conquest audience
• Diminish preconceptions about the brand
• Get people talking about the brand
• Get people talking about the car itself
• Digitally ‘Go-Further’
• Sell the car

To challenge this audience’s pre-conceptions around how a car brand behaves and communicates, our approach needed to grab their attention early, to drive awareness and intrigue that would generate leads ahead of the car’s physical arrival, and also support and influence the ‘Striking Angles’ campaign.

To do this we had to digitally ‘go further’; creating a ground-breaking digital interaction that showcased the unique design, and driving experience of the NX by letting our audience not just participate but also enter the campaign.

Approach
Building on the Lexus heritage of craftsmanship and a passion for advancing technology, our digital solution created three connected activations that are threaded together socially: NX House (the campaign hub site), branded mobile apps, and a daring, industry first, virtual reality concept, which allows customers to truly experience the NX.

A social thread helped amplify the campaign through users’ own channels, and the result generated leads and built an engaged, intrigued conquest audience ahead of the car’s arrival on the market.

The virtual reality concept, utilising Oculus Rift (OR) headsets, provided the interactive experience with two state of the art virtual reality elements designed and crafted by Amaze:
• A head motion controlled personalised car configurator, which enables customers to virtually configure and view their own NX.
• An immersive 360-degree virtual driving experience, taking the user through a multi-dimensional and highly stylised urban landscape.

Over six months in the development stage, and working closely with OR, our approach looked beyond the widely used film-based experiences to using computer-generated imagery and animation, with a more cinematic storytelling angle.

Technology
Pushing the boundaries of computer generated imagery, we generated six miles of fully realised 3D roads and city environments built in Unreal Engine 4 CGI. The NX itself was rendered from CAD files, before a path was chosen for it to drive and camera placements positioned.

Animated backgrounds were developed using a Flat Surface Shader rendered on an HTML5 Canvas, giving us the control and ability to tweak materials, lighting and camera positions in real time for instant testing.

It also allowed flexibility with our templates and codes to integrate more specific features, such as the online 360-degree video translation of the pre-rendered OR journey.

Every detail was meticulously planned and tested against the strict criteria for a sophisticated and inspiring virtual reality experience. An underlying narrative was also added to the city drive to inject an element of surprise.

All back-end work was handled internally, as was the huge amount of upfront planning needed to coordinate the updates and pan-European rollout of the NX House.
We also translated this driving experience for desktop use to allow all customers to consume the virtual NX experiences, including some additional desktop browser features.

In advance of the NX being available in dealers, we road showed these experiences to customers at dealerships, key launch events and locations throughout the world, generating a hugely positive response, and allowing us to both generate firm high quality lead opportunities and build an engaged consumer audience for the brand.

Alain Uyttenhoven, Head of Lexus Europe, said: “The ground-breaking new technology, which provides consumers with an immersive entry point, very much establishes the tone and stylisations of the Lexus Striking Angles campaign. It is an integral part of the launch – offering consumers a unique and personal way to experience the NX – building anticipation and creating a buzz.

“We are really excited to break new ground and keep our brand at the forefront of innovation in the digital space. We’re immensely proud and excited by this latest launch and would like to encourage everyone to register to discover this amazing experience.”

This project demonstrates how you can successfully create a truly integrated campaign across multiple touchpoints both on and offline. By working in harmony with Lexus’ above the line (ATL) agency we were able to present one, fully joined up campaign.

An example of this is how we choreographed the project’s digital strategy and delivery around the introduction of will-i-am in the ATL activity. As the face of the campaign, our digital concepts provided an integrated experience with will-i-am activities such as aligning with the TV commercial release dates.

In addition, we then translated the OR experience into a desktop feature, where we switched head controls for a mouse and we also developed a complementary mobile app, called NX-ify, to enable our audience to participate by creating campaign-stylised photography and video to share socially. Finally, interactive rich media was created for customers to sample the campaign and digital activations in brand sponsored digital channels, such as 4oD.

Finally, this highly successful campaign is more than just a one-off – after its achievements, it represents the blue print for next campaign. It is has helped to generate a new definition of the Lexus brand.