Lexus Creates New Cross-Media Brand Campaign Using Macromedia Flash And Director
11 July 2000
Lexus Site Visitors Can Create Their Own TV Commercials Using Macromedia Shockwave Player
SAN FRANCISCO - Macromedia, Inc. , the leading provider of solutions for
compelling and effective Web sites, today announced that Macromedia Flash and
Director 8 Shockwave Studio are at the core of a cross-media advertising
campaign for the new Lexus IS 300. The unique marketing campaign was created to
stretch the automaker's brand beyond its luxury, high end status to one that
would appeal to a younger, more hip audience.
In addition to Macromedia Flash content on its Web site, which guides
users through the features of the new sports sedan, Lexus enabled its site
visitors to create a 30-second commercial using the Macromedia Shockwave
Player. One site visitor, out of the more than 2,000 who submitted
commercials, won a brand new Lexus IS 300 and saw his commercial air on ABC's
"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" as part of the promotion. The radical Lexus
promotion pushes the limits of technology with an amazing real-world example
of how Web and television media can converge using Macromedia Flash and
Director 8 Shockwave Studio.
"The Lexus site is a clear example of the convergence of the Web and
television, and leverages the unique strengths of Macromedia Flash and
Shockwave content," said Tom Hale, senior vice president of product marketing
for Macromedia. "Macromedia Flash provides the high-quality, interactive user
interfaces and car walkthrough, and the Macromedia Shockwave content turns Web
visitors into video producers through a custom drag-and-drop editing
application."
The innovative, engaging site at http://www.lexus.com/is/ has received more than
350,000 visitors since its May launch. The user interface for the site was
created in Macromedia Flash, the standard for producing high impact,
vector-based Web sites. The video editing application for creating the
commercials used the highly interactive capabilities of Macromedia Shockwave
content.
Macromedia Director 8 Shockwave Studio is the authoring environment for
creating and delivering engaging Macromedia Shockwave content. Macromedia
Shockwave content was used to enable site visitors to create a commercial by
turning their Web browser into a fully-operational edit bay, where users could
assemble their own Lexus commercials by selecting from 67 video clips,
52 stills, and 14 musical soundtracks. The clips were all editable within the
Shockwave application, and users could add text and effects on top of the
video.
"The IS 300 Sufficiently Radical Contest enticed the technically skilled
and multimedia savvy to display their creative skills while also generating
excitement and high visibility for the launch of the IS 300," said Robin Pisz,
national manager, Internet marketing for Lexus, a division of Toyota Motor
Sales USA. "Macromedia Flash and Director made sense as the perfect tools to
create a cutting edge application that would still be accessible to a majority
of our users."
The creators of the site believe, "If it wasn't for Macromedia Director
and Shockwave, our development would have taken twice as long," said
Mark Arana, vice president, technology for Dream Theater, Inc. "Having access
to a broad range of multi-media tools and an elegant scripting language allows
for rapid prototyping and tuning to achieve results that would normally take
years to develop, rather than weeks. Macromedia Director which creates
Shockwave content, is the most flexible, manageable, scalable, direct,
interactive application development environment we've ever experienced."
The ubiquity of the Macromedia Flash and Shockwave Players is a
contributing factor in the growing number of sites that deploy these
technologies to deliver visual flair and rich interactivity. More than
91 percent of Web surfers can view Macromedia Flash content online, and more
than 51 percent are able to view Shockwave content, without having to download
and install a player, according to an NPD Online Research survey conducted in
June. By combining these figures with IDC's current estimate of 269 million
Web surfers that percentage translates to more than 248 million who can
already view Macromedia Flash content, with 137 million able to immediately
experience Shockwave content.
ABOUT MACROMEDIA
Macromedia is passionate about what the Web can be. Its award-winning
products empower developers to provide the most engaging experience on the
Web, and enable more effective e-business. Headquartered in San Francisco,
Macromedia has more than 1,000 employees worldwide.