Lexus lights up Kuala Lumpur with “Strobe” advert

Our capital city was the setting of one of the more striking car advertisements of the year, thanks to Lexus. The one-minute commercial, titled “Strobe”, depicts “an illuminated man’s journey across a city at night.”

Or, rather, several men – a group of acrobats and stuntmen were suspended across some of Kuala Lumpur’s tallest buildings, wearing custom-made LED light suits that were lit up in succession to create a stroboscopic effect. As seen in the video, this creates the illusion of a “Lightman” leaping and jumping across the city skyline, ending with a Lexus RC F lighting up. Computer Magic’s song “Running” was the soundtrack.

The ad was created by CHI & Partners London and was directed by commercials and music video director Adam Berg. 40 engineers from Thailand came together to erect and control the large-scale rigging from which the acrobats were suspended.

2015_Lexus_RC_F_001

The light suits, designed by Hollywood costume designer Vin Burnham and special effects designer Adam Wright, took six weeks to build. Each suit contains 1,680 wirelessly-controlled LED lights and was inspired by Lexus’ current design cues such as the spindle grille and the RC F’s LED headlights.

“Strobe”, which will run globally across TV, cinema, print, outdoor, digital and social media, is the third project in the “Amazing In Motion” series. The other two, “Steps” and “Swarm” also toyed with the concept of roaming around a city, the former with two 11-foot puppets, the latter with swarms (hah!) of quadcopters.

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Jonathan Lee

After trying to pursue a career in product design, Jonathan Lee decided to make the sideways jump into the world of car journalism instead. He therefore appreciates the aesthetic appeal of a car, but for him, the driving experience is still second to none.

 

Comments

  • NormanTheGreat (Member) on Jul 03, 2014 at 8:56 am

    Pardon me for saying this but im sick and tired to see the always usual manufacturers like Lexus,Toyota,Honda,BMW get huge publicity..Asean should import more brands like US Dodge,Lincoln,Cadillac,Czech Skoda,Russian Lada,Marussia,Holden etc for variaties..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 47
    • iskhalifah (Member) on Jul 03, 2014 at 9:07 am

      Skoda may be logic, but those American full-size (E-segment?) fuel guzzler cars don’t have mass appeal here in Malaysia. GM already had Chevy brand here despite not truly American, and Chrysler is about to bring the refreshed Jeep Cherokee. In East Asian markets, American are not well accepted for its big sized luxury cars (in Middle East, yes. Ford Taurus, GMC, Cadillac Escalade have mass appeal there etc.)

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 30 Thumb down 0
      • Same L0r on Jul 03, 2014 at 11:42 am

        Haha, stuck in the traffic jam with these fuel guzzler big size cars with turning radius > 6m?

        The reliable are no way close to Toyota/Lexus/Mercedes.

        The spare part will cost you a fortune.

        Government increase the fuel price a little then you will be crying.

        There are reasons why these cars are not available here.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 16 Thumb down 2
    • AVH (Member) on Jul 03, 2014 at 11:12 am

      I feel bias but I’ll say it…..I dont find bar Cadillac, any american brands to have elegence and sophistication feel that deserve such publicity. Judging purely from the Super Bowl, American brand often tend to exudes a loud and bombastic unique to themself, MURICA!!! F*** YEA!! kind of image. Just look at the teaser they gave for the Camero ZL1, 2014 Corvette Stingray and very recently the rock-music heavy Dodge Chellenger Hellcat. It may be pleasing for the Americans, but for Europeans and to an extand Asian, its ghastly, unrefine and un-sophisticated. And to the point of importing them, seriously? In America itself, their brands perceive a same footing as Japanese and Korean brand in quality and refinememt. Varieties is good, but thats just spoiled for choice.

      Skoda and Seat is a shadow of Volkswagen and VW do make such huge publicity. The Koreans are masters when it comes to HUGE publicity, the king of marketings, just look at the amount of advert, commercial and sponsers Hyundai-Kia does. Other than that Holden is closing down, Marussia is non-existence and Lada? Seriously?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 0
      • Obviously (Member) on Jul 03, 2014 at 1:35 pm

        Holden is, for the most part, the Australian face of Chevrolet and we have them here. I also beg to differ about Cadillac being elegant and sophisticated, in terms of design, at least. In comparison with the Japanese, Germans and even Koreans, they look rather outdated (when shopping for luxury vehicles, looks play an important part, no?). I think they’ll have trouble convincing people to choose them over even Lexus, not to mention the Luxury Trio which they will most certainly go against.

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
    • >80% of people in Malaysia or maybe in the world only interested in Lexus,Toyota,Honda,BMW. There is no need and not wise for the car journalist to concentrate on other brands.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 9 Thumb down 3
    • klata-klata on Jul 03, 2014 at 11:39 am

      Customers pay for all these promotions factored into the premium pricing.

      They’d be happy to spend your money to enhance THEIR brands, as long as their customers perceive corresponding virtual value in being ASSOCIATED with them.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0
  • iskhalifah (Member) on Jul 03, 2014 at 9:01 am

    Intially, I thought the strobe men were to climb part of the KLCC instead of the shorter surrounding buildings. Nevertheless, looks cool & original, like their GS ‘hypnotize’ advertisement.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0
  • normal_user on Jul 03, 2014 at 9:09 am

    Perhaps the strobe acrobatic men should go inside the new infamous KL landmark: the Pudu-Imbi sinkhole… Hehe.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 12
  • here’s behind the scene video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ke_nlon_Tc

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 0
  • on a more positive note, beautiful city i must say, proud of the city but still the country needs reformation, our potential is limitless if it weren’t held back by politics

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 13 Thumb down 22
    • AutoFrenz(the original) on Jul 03, 2014 at 12:52 pm

      Why not reform yourself first or just get lost…and tell all your friends who like to complaint to get lost as well…and remember too much complaints is not good for health…you will be depressed to death…as a way out migrate to other countries…if you think they are greener than this beautiful Malaysia…di sini lahirnya sebuah cinta!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 8 Thumb down 15
      • Complaints or valid criticisms?

        You’re OK with the country losing billions and billions under UMNO Malays/Malay-Indians/Bugis, MCA Chinese and MIC Indians? Roads collapsing? Mongolian model gets killed? PKFZ RM4.7B? Racial tension? Snatch thefts? Artificially high car prices? Proton re-badging and re-badging even with our 20 years rakyat support? Judge strong evidence on video but it’s “not them”? Mudah lupa ya?

        Or just “stop complaining”, keep quiet, be katak dibawah tempurung and ignore all the other countries that’s leapfrogging ahead? Next time we become low-value country, factories move to Thailand/Indonesia, petroleum habis – your kids can go become domestic worker in China, OK?

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 7
  • Whoever marketing team they hired, it is genious,
    original.

    Looking at the effort they made, not try to take any shortcut i.e CGI should be praised.

    Hopefully Lexus also translate this effort to develop other lexus group brand as well.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 5 Thumb down 0
    • Same L0r on Jul 03, 2014 at 12:04 pm

      I had seen a better one – Proton Suprima S.

      The advertisement brought us back to 90s, before the 97 economy crisis. Well done Proton!

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 3 Thumb down 4
  • macromedia on Jul 03, 2014 at 10:14 am

    Kinda dumb. Also, I must LEXUS overdid the lights this time. Oh my eyes.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 21
  • jolly_idiot (Member) on Jul 03, 2014 at 10:30 am

    How much they spent on the ads? Now I know why lexus is so expensive in malaysia. Their customer pay for this ads.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 7 Thumb down 9
    • kokatoa on Jul 03, 2014 at 2:07 pm

      These ads were commissioned by Lexus in Japan, not Lexus Malaysia.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 4 Thumb down 0
      • jolly_idiot (Member) on Jul 03, 2014 at 4:42 pm

        Hahaha… Supply chain rules. You think parent company paid so much for ads will they increase target and their margin on you?

        Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 7
    • Same L0r on Jul 03, 2014 at 2:20 pm

      So you think Proton ads are paid by Perodua owners?

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 2
  • RC? Sounds like remote control toy car to me.

    This lexus RC-F totally not appealing to me.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 7
  • shawal on Jul 03, 2014 at 12:31 pm

    Lexus rc200t F sport

    Light weight
    Good looks
    Frugal
    Better interior styling and quality against the competition (428i)
    And lexus reliability…

    That would the one to watch out for in the future..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 6 Thumb down 0
  • this ad has 0 things related to the car

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 7
  • James Bond on Jul 03, 2014 at 2:23 pm

    Lame….they need better camera work…
    Rubbish production..in my opinion

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 11
    • AVH (Member) on Jul 03, 2014 at 3:52 pm

      Do you happen to be in the filming sector sir?
      I do respect your opinion if you find faults with it but Rubbish? I happen to just recently do an ameature short film with my friends and god it was faaaar from a walk in the park.

      The Camera is set up such a way to mask out the unlighted character and focus on the lighted one when he is lighted. Therefore night and dark scene is chosen. The scenes are also shot in unique places where camera is rather inacessable, so planning for this is effingly tricky considering how congested KL is. And mind you, those stuntman are not digitally added into the frame but rather several stuntman as a team danggling from high rise superstructure on just two strings, in fact looking at the BTS there are almost no CGI in this wizardry, everything are done in a good old stuntman-one-try right method.

      Rubbish production? As a ameature cameraman, I take that as an insult.

      Like or Dislike: Thumb up 14 Thumb down 0
  • sudonano (Member) on Jul 03, 2014 at 4:48 pm

    This is just next level cool. Wow.

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 1 Thumb down 0
  • fatchicken on Jul 03, 2014 at 8:06 pm

    omg 40 engineers from Thailand erect together for this?

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 2
  • this ads reminds me of infamous second son..

    Like or Dislike: Thumb up 0 Thumb down 0
 

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