The new Rise To It campaign from Lexus will be the flagship platform for Lexus UK’s upcoming tennis ventures, which celebrate the brand’s partnerships with Sky Sports Tennis, LTA and the ATP tour.
To learn more about the campaign, I spoke to Frances Draskau, Group Creative Director at T&Pm, the agency behind the creative.
What was the brief?
As Lexus began to develop its tennis sponsorship ecosystem our job was to increase reach and unaided brand awareness through our communications.
Client brief summary: ‘How can we use the development 2024 tennis assets to build distinctive, right brained, emotional creative which will help us brand our partnerships as memorably Lexus?’
Creative brief summary: ‘To dream is great, to plan is even better. But to make something happen, and to take action, is everything. Whether it’s a six-year old playing for the first time, or a world champion trying something new, we’re all trying to change our game.’
How did the initial pitch/brainstorming phase go?
We felt this was a fantastic opportunity for our creatives so we held an open brief to allow everyone to participate if they wished to.
They did wish to… we received 60 incredible scripts and the last one, delivered on the stroke of the deadline by senior creative team, Ben Fallows and Matt Deacon, had that special something, something. It had the grit and guts, heart and heartbreak of real tennis. As a huge tennis fan, it was exactly what I was looking for.
What was the process behind ideating the concept?
There was a line in the first script, ‘We don’t choose the surface, we rise to it.’
‘Rise To It’ felt right for Lexus. You don’t get born as a Lexus owner; you earn one. You’re not entitled to success; you work your way there.
The script was adapted to include a steady camera rise though each scene, featuring the story of a pro tennis player serving match point at an ATP final and looking back to where it all began.
From the first hint of talent as a baby with a sure grip, rising to a child with a love for the sport, rising to a teenager playing in all seasons on every court, rising to an adult alone, serving to win. Through the rises we see his mother, Lexus, the coaches and the fans that all help to transport him to where he is now.
What was the production process like?
Dreamy. Can I say that? I’ve done it now.
We’d crafted the film script over several months and only a director who truly understood the quiet power of the story would be right. So, we sent it to Elliott Power at Love Song. And crossed our fingers.
Thankfully, Elliott didn’t just get it, he’d lived it. His treatment was one of the best I’ve read and became such a thing of wonder, the creatives would crowd round to read it.
As a former footballer, he’d lived the academy life of a talented player and knew exactly what we were trying to do. Elliott added a new layer of sporting soul to the story and treated it with the same respect we felt for the game and the brand.
What was the biggest challenge during production? How did you overcome it?
The glass floor the player starts the scene on was particularly challenging on the budget we had but it was a key detail for Ben & Matt and we all wanted to make it possible.
This became a very small glass box our pro player, Jakub Domzy, had to serve from and involved a perfectly timed camera rise that had to be configured and programmed a day in advance.
It started raining as we shot it and the glass was getting covered in water so we could only take the shot a few times before it got too dangerous. Thankfully, Jakub does a perfect serve every single time!
What is one funny or notable thing that happened during production?
Many of our scenes were shot at night on big, open courts with huge, single spotlights or rain machines and Elliott’s musical background meant we always had a banging soundtrack going so it often felt more like we were at a rave than a film set.
He coached the players like he’d been doing it all his life and pulled stunning performances from them. It was fantastic to watch and I’m so glad we spent time casting exceptional tennis players for each stage of the hero’s life as their skills were put to the test – watching them playing in strobe lights and never missing a return was incredible.
What’s the main message of this project and why does it matter?
To succeed you must move upward as well as forward, and to rise up, you need support. Even in tennis, no one drives alone.
It’s an important parallel between the brand and the sport and their shared ethos, but also on a personal level in the way Lexus tries to be everything you need a car to be, the perfect partner to your game, and how we see the player’s mother and coaches, always there supporting the player to be the best he can be.
How long did it take from inception to delivery?
10 months in total! A lot of that was development and pre-testing. Once we got into production things went very smoothly.
Can you describe the creative spark or inspiration behind the initial concept? Was there a specific moment or insight that ignited the idea?
As a tennis fan, when I look at most brand sponsorship, I don’t see any real love for the sport. Just a load of brands sticking their badge on everything in sight and maybe handing out free strawberries at matches.
Now, I’m all for free strawberries but with Lexus, I wanted to show the attention to detail and craft that defines the brand in how it showed up as a partner and sponsor of ATP. I wanted to get under the skin of tennis and all its details and deliver what it makes you feel. For me, that had started when I saw Novak win his first Wimbledon final against Rafa.
The gladiatorial scale of two players surrounded by baying spectators and the focus and mental resilience they demonstrated to stay in the game was probably the greatest emotion I’ve felt watching anything. So, I started from there – what does it take to focus at the highest level? Where does that come from? How do you learn that?
How did you ensure that the concept aligned with the brand's values, goals, and target audience?
We baked it into the brief, beautifully developed by T&Pm Strategy Director, Tom Langan. He is an artist at heart, like so many great strategists, and his support and determination to facilitate the best creative ensures we’re never off track once we get into creative development of a route.
He grounds everything we do in the brand and its existing and potential audiences, and vigorously tests them to support the brand’s goals.
Were there any alternative concepts or ideas considered during the ideation phase? If so, what led to the selection of the final concept?
There was a fantastic second route called The Painter, by T&Pm copywriter, Tom Atkinson. It’s so good, I’m not sharing it because I hope it sees the light one day.
We needed to land Lexus’ first tennis partnership communication assets with a statement about who they are and how they feel about tennis and Rise To It does that very succinctly. The narrative idents are also pretty rare in that they tell a story and land the partnership across 8 individual, yet connected, mini stories.
Can you discuss any collaborative or interdisciplinary aspects of the ideation process, such as working with other departments or external partners?
Our cinematographer, Lukasz Zal, had just come home from the Oscars where his feature, Zone of Interest, with British director, Jonathan Glazer, had won. Watching him turn every scene into a living painting with Elliott was a beautiful process.
Miink composed the soundtrack especially for the film. We knew it needed something quiet and moving with building energy. Anything faster and it would have become a different film – too aggressive, too cliched sports genre.
Rob Daglish at Marsheen edited the films so beautifully that we actually had him along for the sound design briefing with Jon Clarke at Factory to maintain the harmony we had going between each step of the post-work. Jon did an incredible job of building the atmosphere as the film progressed to the ultimate match point serve.
What role did consumer research or market analysis play in shaping the concept and its execution?
A partnership like this always requires a delicate balance of the messaging, tone, values and ideologies of the two partners. But even when we work that out, it still needs to land with the (in this instance) quite specific audience.
We worked with System 1 on comprehensive creative testing. Using their ‘Face Trace’ emotional response measurement, we sought to balance long, short and fluency metrics to best deliver on the brief, without falling foul of following a ‘paint-by-numbers’ approach to game the results.
Can you discuss any unique or unconventional production techniques or approaches used to bring the idea to life?
We shot the film in aspect ratio 3:2 and used film out. We also shot every frame of the film for real – including the rabbit in headlights in the early hours of the morning, which included 10 rabbits on standby and a robot rabbit just in case (the final select was a real one!).
How did you ensure that the concept remained innovative and stood out in a crowded marketplace?
In a world of AI clickbait, real film is standing out quite loud and proud all on its’ own. Whenever the crowd goes right, there will be another flow heading left. I’m glad we’re creating in a world where our audience are open to, and have an appetite for, both.
What do you hope it achieves for the brand?
An authentic and longstanding tennis partnership platform for Lexus, reaching a wider audience with an opportunity to support grassroots initiatives with the LTA making tennis more accessible and inclusive.
We believe in luxury being something you earn, and we want to ensure that’s more than a statement in the initiatives that come to define, Rise To It.
Credit list for the work?
Agency: T&Pm
Client: Lexus UK
Global ECD: Toby Allen
Creative Director: Frances Draskau
Creatives: Frances Draskau, Ben Fallows & Matt Deacon
Strategy Director: Tom Langan
Client Lead: Michele Lardner
Account Director: Kirsty Gummer
Senior Account Manager: Phil Lloyd
Integrated Production Partner: Charles Crisp
Senior Producer: Sam Topley
Senior Producer: Kieran Sadler
Head of Partnerships: Amy O’Malley
Partnership Director: Matthew Hardy
Media Lead: Richard Bradley
Media Planning Director: Dominic Maddison
