Burrell uses Website, podcasts, blogs for Lexus African American effort

Burrell uses Website, podcasts, blogs for Lexus African American effort

By Pamela Parker
ClickZ News
(January 5, 2006) Lexus is rolling out an African American-targeted campaign for its new IS sport sedan, employing musical podcasts and a blog ad buy.

The Toyota luxury brand's four-week effort is centered around LexusFusion.com, a microsite where visitors can subscribe to podcasts, view a behind-the-scenes video of the making of a radio spot, and tell friends about the site. Independent interactive shop ImagineThat developed the online portion of the effort.

The podcasts themselves, also sponsored by Vibe Magazine, consist of about 25 minutes of hip-hop/jazz fusion -- part of Hidden Beach records' "Unwrapped" series. After a DJ intro, in which the Lexus IS is mentioned, music is interspersed with radio spots, produced by Lexus multicultural agency Burrell, a unit of Publicis. A new podcast will be released every week of the campaign.

"The campaign is built around [the concept of] dimensions," explained ImagineThat SVP Derek Bonney. "The idea is that the car offers multiple dimensions -- performance, luxury, technology." The fusion of hip-hop and jazz in the music is meant to reflect that theme.

Lexus is also diving into another emerging media type -- blogs. The company has made blogs a "pretty heavy part" of the overall ad campaign, according to Bonney. The company is running a series of specially-designed creatives on the Blogads network's music channel.

"One of the things we've learned in this process is they appear like they're part of the blog," said Bonney. "You draw people a little bit more into a dialogue than in a standard ad." The 150 x 200 pixel units feature a dominant, quirky image and plain text.

Other media buys -- featuring Flash creative -- will run on BET.com, BlackPlanet.com and Vibe.com. The BET agreement has editorial staff writing reviews of the podcast content.

"They have the freedom to write about it any way they want," he said. "We knew when we did the deal with them that we'd just have to, so they say, face the music on it."

The company has also rented demographically targeted opt-in e-mail lists to try to drum up interest in the microsite.

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Click here for free delivery of the Target Market News Bulletin You'll receive news of breaking stories, exclusives, updates and headlines on the latest developments in African American marketing and media Black Stats Frequently requested data on African American consumers Black Buying Power: $679 Billion (2004) Black U.S. Population: 38.3 million Top Five Black Cities - New York - Chicago - Detroit - Philadelphia - Houston Top Five Black Metros: - New York-New Jersey - Washington-Baltimore - Chicago-Gary - Los Angeles - Philadelphia Top Five Expenditures: - Housing 110.2 bil. - Food 53.8 bil. - Cars/Trucks 28.7 bil. - Clothing 22.0 bil. - Health Care 17.9 bil. Click here for more stats from "The Buying Power of Black America." ______________________ Get quick access to key U.S. Census Bureau Data Click here to go to African-American Census Bureau data _____________________ Copyright `© 2005 by Target Market News Inc.` All rights reserved Business address: 228 S. Wabash Ave. Suite 210 Chicago, IL 60604 t. 312-408-1881 f. 312-408-1867 info@targetmarketnews.com	Burrell uses Website, podcasts, blogs for Lexus African American effort By Pamela Parker ClickZ News (January 5, 2006) Lexus is rolling out an African American-targeted campaign for its new IS sport sedan, employing musical podcasts and a blog ad buy. The Toyota luxury brand's four-week effort is centered around LexusFusion.com, a microsite where visitors can subscribe to podcasts, view a behind-the-scenes video of the making of a radio spot, and tell friends about the site. Independent interactive shop ImagineThat developed the online portion of the effort. The podcasts themselves, also sponsored by Vibe Magazine, consist of about 25 minutes of hip-hop/jazz fusion -- part of Hidden Beach records' "Unwrapped" series. After a DJ intro, in which the Lexus IS is mentioned, music is interspersed with radio spots, produced by Lexus multicultural agency Burrell, a unit of Publicis. A new podcast will be released every week of the campaign. "The campaign is built around [the concept of] dimensions," explained ImagineThat SVP Derek Bonney. "The idea is that the car offers multiple dimensions -- performance, luxury, technology." The fusion of hip-hop and jazz in the music is meant to reflect that theme. Lexus is also diving into another emerging media type -- blogs. The company has made blogs a "pretty heavy part" of the overall ad campaign, according to Bonney. The company is running a series of specially-designed creatives on the Blogads network's music channel. "One of the things we've learned in this process is they appear like they're part of the blog," said Bonney. "You draw people a little bit more into a dialogue than in a standard ad." The 150 x 200 pixel units feature a dominant, quirky image and plain text. Other media buys -- featuring Flash creative -- will run on BET.com, BlackPlanet.com and Vibe.com. The BET agreement has editorial staff writing reviews of the podcast content. "They have the freedom to write about it any way they want," he said. "We knew when we did the deal with them that we'd just have to, so they say, face the music on it." The company has also rented demographically targeted opt-in e-mail lists to try to drum up interest in the microsite. Go to Target Market News homepage	NEW! Search the entire contents of the Target Market News Web site! Looking for hard-to-find information on the African-American consumer market? Now you can easily search the contents of the leading source for information on African-American marketing and media. Scan our entire Web site for news, research and information using Google-powered keyword searches. Hundreds of articles, stories and report findings can be accessed for free. 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