Brief Explanation

‘Steps’ is the launch TV spot in the first global brand campaign from Lexus titled, “Amazing in Motion”. ‘Amazing in Motion’ is a set of ambitious global projects created by Lexus to showcase the brand’s imagination, innovation and design excellence. For ‘Steps’, Lexus have created a huge and precisely engineered human puppet, and used the very latest technology and materials, combined with the artistry of master performers, to bring it to life. Set against the backdrop of a stunning nocturnal cityscape, we follow the figure on its journey through the city, culminating in a finale of incredible movement when it finds what it has been searching for – its female mate. These 11ft puppets were designed and built over a four month using state of the art materials and advanced 3D printing.

Creative Execution

Lexus challenged us to bring more emotion to their brand. The result was ‘Steps’. A brand ad where Lexus created a huge, precisely engineered human figure using the very latest technology and materials and combined it with the artistry of master puppeteers to bring it to life. Set against the backdrop of a stunning nocturnal cityscape, we follow the figure on its journey through the city, culminating in a finale of incredible movement when it finds what it has been searching for – its female partner. This could have come have across as cold, techy and robotic but at the heart of this idea was a love story and like all love stories, music played a crucial role. There were many challenges. The music needed to carry us through a story that was at times joyful and playful and at other times sincere and heartfelt, all the while adding to the narrative thread rather than just sitting on top of the visuals. After listening to over a thousand tracks we came across an artist called Christina Train who’s husky, rich, sound recalled another era. We put her together with well known producer David Kosten and a little known Aretha Franklin track. The result was startling. A piece that added warmth without being saccharine or melancholy, that felt modern yet timeless, but most importantly brought incredible human emotion to a wholely inanimate object.