With so many car commercials crowding the airwaves, it’s tough to make auto ads that stand out. But creatives James Hendry and Eric Walker—associate creative director/art director and associate creative director/ copywriter, respectively, at Team One Advertising, El Segundo, Calif., have done just that by creating "Dog" and "Bike." What makes the ads that promote the Lexus SC 430, a new luxury convertible, stand out is that the two U.S. market spots are entirely in French. Victor Garcia of bicoastal Morton Jankel Zander directed the ads, with digital effects and compositing by Venice, Calif.-based Sight Effects.
The genesis of the spots comes from the aesthetic of the car. "It’s the first time Lexus has made a convertible," Walker explains. "It’s a special car for them in the sense that it’s sporty and its styling is up there in the upper echelon of cars. We wanted to represent the car as romantic and sensuous."
Early on it was decided to portray the SC 430 as a siren—something that would beckon drivers. "The car had this ability to call to you and catch your eye," says Walker. "It had that effect that great cars have on people. Based on that strategy, and knowing that we wanted to elevate the brand and the car, we started talking about ways we could do that—locations that [the car] would be in, and concepts."
One of those concepts involved language. "Ultimately, English seemed to fall short on our descriptions. It seemed to be too pedestrian for the romance of the vehicle," continues Walker. "We started talking about how you could talk about the car in a way that was more elevated. Those discussions led us to the use of [French]. The ability to break through the clutter with the use of a different language was also enticing. After that we came up with scenarios that were reflective of a French sensibility."
ParleZ-vous Français?
"Dog" opens with a wide shot of a woman walking her canine down a street lined with elegant European buildings. As the French voiceover celebrates the car, we see the woman’s Great Dane stop and stare at a parked SC 430. The woman tugs on the animal’s leash, but the pooch won’t budge. The convertible and its retractable hardtop roof transfix the animal. The woman continues to pull on the leash, but to no avail. The pooch is still watching the Lexus as it drives into the night. At the end of the ad, the words "Parlez-vous désir?" appear onscreen and in voiceover.
"Bike" follows the Lexus convertible as it makes its way through the countryside, with its top down. The spot intercuts footage of the moving car with shots of a cycling team speeding along country roads in the opposite direction. At one point, the Lexus comes to a stop at an intersection, and the car’s roof slowly closes. Coming from a different direction, the cyclists stop at the same intersection. Upon seeing the luxury auto, they collapse like dominos: The car has made them swoon. Listening to the voiceover, it’s easy to recognize the French equivalent of words like "technology" and "irresistible."
"We really saw the French as a soundtrack to the spots," notes Walker. "It wasn’t so much a script as it was just another element in the audio—almost like music. With opera you can feel the emotions being communicated. You don’t necessarily know the language, but you know the context and the passion that’s coming through. I think what’s amazing about the French is, when you talk to people they know why you did it."
Using French was never really a problem according to James Hendry, the art director on the ads, who says that everyone—the client, research groups, Team One accounts and planning people—"got" the spots immediately. "Every time we put this idea forward, people saw it instantly. A lot of the time, people said, ‘You can stop selling now. This is a great idea,’ " relates Hendry. (Despite the easy approval process from the client, it did take a bit longer than usual to clear the ads with networks.)
Walker says that the client was willing to forego pointing out the car’s specifications and options, a common feature of auto ads. "Traditionally [with car spots] there are always features and things to talk about, especially with a new product launch," he notes. "The SC was a brand new car for them; they had so many things they were proud of with the vehicle. It was a big risk for them to put that all aside and realize that the mood you set is really more important. What we said about the car was fairly simple: We said it was magnificent and hypnotic. We didn’t get into engine size or standard features.
"We did see this as a brand exercise because it’s a low-volume car," continues Walker. "They’ve already sold the first ten thousand units. When the ads broke, they were almost sold out. It wasn’t really an exercise in selling that model so much as it was aligning the brand with where they want to go."
Euro-style
France’s weather didn’t allow for outdoor January shoots, so the spots were filmed in Argentina, a country known for its European look and feel—"Dog" was shot outside the French embassy. And since it was important that the spots look French, finding a director with just the right touch was crucial and Victor Garcia was the choice.
"We always knew you couldn’t just do a commercial in French and have it look like an American car commercial," says Hendry. "We really wanted to bring somebody with a European sensibility to it—we wanted the commercials to feel French. We looked at a lot of reels, and Victor’s reel really stood out because of his attention to detail. He has a great eye, but there’s a quirkiness to the things he does."
"The French do things that they don’t ever necessarily have to explain," Walker adds with a laugh. "We wanted that in there."
"We narrowed it down to some pretty exciting people," continues Hendry. "We talked to a lot of directors, but even in talking to [Garcia], he had an enthusiasm for it. He thought about so many details. He sent us beautiful boards that showed that he already had a whole palette in mind. We were just wowed by him."
What has the general response been to the ads? "People are coming into dealerships and talking about [the commercials]," states Walker. "These spots have gotten more attention than anything I’ve done, and I’ve been working on Lexus for three years now."
