With the immense popularity of SUVs, most in the auto industry believe sport sedans to be a lost cause. But for the engineers at Lexus, the sport sedan is an obsession. So to generate excitement about the Lexus IS sport sedan, we decided to connect with a subculture also known for being hyper-obsessive: vinyl junkies. And create something that this important and influential demographic would love to add to their collection.
Vinyl junkies spend an exorbitant amount of time in front of their turntables. But one big drag about this obsession is, you can’t listen to your collection while behind the wheel. So we set out to give turntablists the ultimate mobile listening experience by creating the Lexus IS Wax Edition–an IS customized with an in-dash turntable. And to give this even more scale, we invited two internationally loved DJs–KAYTRANADA and Madlib–to produce a first-ever collaboration to test our turntable out with. We also partnered with the two pubs vinyl junkies and audiophiles love most–Pitchfork and WIRED.
This initiative required two extraordinary creations. First, we needed to find a way to install a turntable into a car that would not skip when hitting bumps. This required exploring countless vertical and horizontal turntable models, dashboard integration designs and stabilization methods. Second, we got KAYTRANADA and Madlib to do a first-ever collaboration to be used to test out the IS Wax turntable. All of this was captured in a two-part documentary and debuted at the number one vinyl destination–Pitchfork. Vinyl junkies could also pick up a copy of the record through Vinyl Me, Please. And audiophiles could go even deeper with a photo essay in WIRED about how we created the IS WAX, bumps in the road and all.
Our initiative earned over 2.1 million impressions, 517K video views, and 524K engagements. All contributing to a 198% spike in IS sales. And the IS 350 is now the number two fastest-selling vehicle in North America–beating out both cars and SUVs. (So much for a dwindling sedan market.) Our efforts were so successful, Road & Track said, “With a serious marketing campaign, you can actually have a successful sport sedan launch in 2021.” Music to our client’s ears.
