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Lexus' December to Remember reshaped by the pandemic

After spending the summer convincing consumers to take socially distanced breaks from grim reality, advertisers are now returning to the pandemic as the central focus in holiday shopping campaigns launching this month. U.S. companies from carmakers to retailers are under pressure to make the shopping season a success after retail sales crashed 21% earlier this year as millions of Americans lost jobs and cut their budgets. They face the challenge of convincing consumers to open their wallets for the holidays even as the coronavirus pandemic rages anew across the United States and Europe. As new campaigns roll out, brands feel it is their responsibility to inspire optimism for the coming year, but also empathize with “the hurt that people have,” said Jason Schragger, chief creative officer at ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi. Carmaker LexusÂ’ iconic “December to Remember” campaign, which features cars wrapped in giant red bows on picturesque snowy driveways, will focus on the different role that driveways have played this year, as people sought ways to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries and other milestones despite stay-at-home orders. New TV commercials launching on Monday feature family and friends doing a drive-by graduation party in their Lexus vehicles as a student in a cap and gown waves from her driveway. In another, a man greets his children and grandkids from a distance as they drive by, waving a homemade “Happy Birthday, Grandpa” sign. "We wanted to make sure we weren't showing large gatherings of people," said Lisa Materazzo, vice president of marketing at Lexus, owned by Toyota. "But it's nice to have a live interaction, and that can happen when you're safe in the car and waving from the driveway." Staying connected during the pandemic is the message behind ads for the department store MacyÂ’s, whose window displays and Santaland attraction have been hallmarks of the holidays since the late 19th century. At a time when flying home or hosting big family gatherings can be dangerous, Macy's is focusing on how finding and giving the perfect gift plays an even bigger role in connecting with people you can not see in person this year, according to Macy's chief customer officer Rich Lennox. A similar theme underpins Etsy's commercial, in which a woman who longs to see her grandson opens a gift of a handmade doll that matches a picture he had drawn.

New Lexus small CUV may have been behind moving ES production to Kentucky

Lexus may have had another big reason - in addition to the financial incentives potentially worth up to $146.5 million that Kentucky offered - to move ES production to its Georgetown, KY plant. The ES has always been built in Japan, and a report at TheDetroitBureau.com claims that the Kyushu facility will be tooling up to build a new model thought to be a compact hybrid crossover expected to go on sale next year. While ES300h production would remain in Japan, shedding 50,000 units of traditional ES production would free capacity for what many think will be an important model in the Lexus lineup.
The new CUV will come in below the RX and be built on the platform of the RAV4. Speculation is that there will be an NX200t and an NX300h, the former possibly getting the 2.0-liter turbo Toyota engine due in 2014 - matching the predicted timeline for the CUV and supposedly also meant for an RX200t - and latter getting the same 2.5-liter hybrid powertrain in the ES300h. We'll see a preview of the Audi Q3 and BMW X1 fighter at this year's Tokyo Motor Show; the production version should be unveiled at the 2014 Geneva Motor Show.

Lexus RC media event in Japan canceled over lack of interest

It's a good thing senior editor Seyth Miersma doesn't live in Japan, or he wouldn't have been able to snap a photo like the one you see here, of a fresh-off-the-line Lexus RC F on hand at a first drive for media. That's because Toyota's Japanese arm has outright canceled its RC press launch. Sure, we've heard about events being delayed, but canceled? That's rare. Even worse is the reason: according to Automotive News, the event was nixed due to lack of interest. Wow.
In an email to media, Lexus said the event "has been canceled due to insufficient attendance," according to AN. The News posits that perhaps it would have just been better to hold the event anyway, in an attempt to save face, and that this is another example of the Japanese culture (especially youth) becoming less and less interested in cars. Of course, there's also the thought that local media just didn't want to drive out to Yokohama to drive the RC on a not-so-sexy press launch, which, if you ask us, is an incredibly lame excuse (do your jobs, folks!).
Either way, will this bode well for the Lexus RC's public launch? Will it receive the same lukewarm response when it arrives at Japanese dealers? We'll see.