Male Opps: Lexus launches ads featuring new influencer partners (Score 51)
Sales Lead: Lexus recently established partnerships with two new female brand ambassadors.
- Up-and-coming golfers Hinako Shibuno and Amari Avery will introduce Lexus's brand "to new audiences and young people around the world," per Lexus's experiential marketing and national partnerships manager, Nicole Peterson.
- Lexus sponsors the US Golf Association along with other companies such as American Express, Cisco, Deloitte, Rolex, and Sentry.
- This announcement comes as Lexus starts targeting younger and more diverse demographics, per Lexus's marketing VP, Vinay Shahani.
- The brand will likely:
- Pursue additional influencer partnerships and sponsorships
- Bolster experiential initiatives
- Ramp up spend
- I especially expect a rise in digital spend since Lexus is targeting younger audiences
- Seek new agency partners
- Target demographic:
- Gen-Z and millennial men
Recent leadership shifts:
- Lexus recently appointed senior digital marketing planner Yolanda Hermosillo (September 2022) and senior experiential marketing strategist Madesyn Don (April 2023).
Additional spending insights:
- Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
- YTD spend: So far this year, Lexus has spent approximately $85.1m on national TV commercials, 14% less than the approximately $98.5m spent within the same 2022 timeframe.
- Last year: The brand ended up spending around $168.4m on this channel in 2022 after having spent 5% more, around $178.2m, in 2021.
- 2023 ad programming: Lexus's 2023 commercials have targeted male sports enthusiasts watching shows such as NFL Football, College Basketball, NHL Hockey, SportsCenter, and NBA Basketball.
- Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
- YTD spend: The automaker has allocated roughly $18.7m toward digital ads YTD, up 10% from the roughly $17m allocated by this point last year.
- YTD data: Since the beginning of 2023, Lexus has earned ~1.9b digital impressions via YouTube (47%), desktop display (22%), Facebook (14%), Instagram (8%), mobile display (8%), and desktop video (1%) ads.
- Last year: The brand's estimated full-year 2022 spend reached $34.8m, 22% less than that of $44.8m in 2021.
- Additional channel insights
- The brand utilizes Google Ads along with linear, OTT, OOH, digital, local broadcast, print, Twitter, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and online video (via Youtube.com, Youtube IOS, and Youtube Android) ads.
- Lexus has continuous planning and buying conversations.
- The brand sponsors podcasts such as The Herd with Colin Cowherd, The John Batchelor Show, The Charlie Kirk Show, Conan O'Brien Needs A Friend, and Real Ghost Stories Online.
- Lexus's top sports sponsorship partners include the Chicago Blackhawks, Houston Astros, Minnesota Timberwolves Limited Partnership, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, L.P., Seattle Sounders FC, Sacramento Kings, Florida Panthers Hockey Club, Colorado Avalanche Hockey Club, and Pittsburgh Penguins Hockey Club.
Additional agency insights:
- Opportunity: Agency reviews could follow the recent hires, so reach out soon to remain top-of-mind.
- Current agency roster:
- Team One: Creative, media, and digital AOR
- Walton Isaacson CA: Experiential agency partner
- The George P. Johnson Company: Experiential agency partner
- Lumency Inc.: Experiential agency partner
- GP Generate: Multicultural agency partner
- Saatchi & Saatchi: Creative agency partner
- Podcast Reach Network: Digital and multicultural agency partner
- Conill Advertising: Media planning and multicultural agency partner
- View parent company Toyota's full roster here.
Insight Sources: Broadcast, linear, and OTT insights estimated by iSpot; digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix; podcast insights by Podchaser; sponsorship insights by Relo Metrics.
