Lexus Advertising & Lexus-Related Information Sites

[Rabbers]

Having now waited two hours to pick up friends off a delayed flight, and with an hour still to go, I thought I'd post a few comments on some Lexus information and advertising sites I've been visiting to pass the time.

After viewing the Northside Lexus tutorial on the RC almost in its entirety for the first time in a while and dipping into others in the series for cars I wanted to know more about such as the ES and the new NX, I must say I remain impressed by the amount of information and the clarity of its presentation.   Belonging as they do to the "getting the best from your car" category, these tutorials are likelier to appeal to a less technically adept audience (which includes me) than do task-specific "how to" videos, many of which are similarly well produced and scripted but assume the willingness of viewers to get their hands dirty.  More to the point, their length allows for a lot more detail than do new-model walkarounds presented with a similar didactic intent but with variable communication skills and often more dutifully than enthusiastically by salesmen palpably unaccustomed to the medium.  The comprehensiveness of the content confirmed my impression that the tutorials were originally inspired by this major U.S. dealership's alarm at the quantity of unproductive time its staff was spending on post-sale queries from customers disinclined to consult their owner's manuals, and I think I would be right in saying that the earliest were handed out in DVD form to new owners along with other point-of-delivery material.

Although some new- or recent-model journalist reviews, professional or amateur, sponsored or independent, often associated with car magazines, can be both entertaining and informative, I tend, perhaps unfairly, to look for lapses of objectivity connected to possible undue influences or vested economic interests.  To which I would add a growing irritation at displays of self-promotion and excessive self-regard on the part of some of the reviewers themselves.  However, I must admit that the extent of my dislike is usually proportionate to my agreement or disagreement with the opinions expressed.   Car commercials made for TV and/or employed with extended footage as website fillers naturally don't deliver more than tiny smatterings of explanatory material, if any at all, and the current crop of high-budget Lexus productions seem even shallower than most insofar as the cars themselves are merely glimpsed from artful angles and largely overshadowed by dramatic urban landscapes or exotic scenery.  Also, a growth of designer stubble not infrequently appears to be a prerequisite for Lexus' casting of the ideal driver for its commercials, presumably because chins thus adorned, better if slightly greying, project an image of stylish maturity in life as in the choice of a car.  Clearly, therefore, any number of candidates suited to the role could readily have been found among the LOC membership.  Be this as it may, since the aim of the commercials is to invite closer acquaintance by downloading a brochure, reading the accompanying online text, or visiting a dealer, they cannot be said to be ineffective.