Lexus IS Hybrid - Trace - (2013) (Italy)

Whoah, this is tablet-game brought to life. Remember those special pens and toy cars you could get at toy stores, where if you drew a line the car would follow the line? This is like that but with a real car, formula 1 driver Jarno Trulli, a huge hangar of space, and special game areas where you had to pick up bonus points along the way. Passengers designed a race-track in real-time on a touch tablet, and Jarno Trulli would drive the road drawn. Fast. Points would be detracted for any sliding outside the lines and failure to pick up bonus-packs.

To promote the new, high-performance Lexus IS Hybrid, Lexus Italy, Saatchi & Saatchi Italy, Movie Magic International (Milan), LOGAN (LA&NY) and Fake Love (NY) have collaborated to create “Trace Your Road,” an experiential event featuring Formula 1 driver, Jarno Trulli.

The ten finalists - selected from hundreds of applicants on Lexus’ Facebook page – were given the opportunity to sit in the passenger seat of the IS Hybrid with Trulli at the wheel. The course was then traced by contestants on a touch tablet that projected their designs onto the floor of the hangar using a collection of 12-20K and 22K projectors. The Lexus IS Hybrid was tracked using a custom high-res infrared (IR) camera system.

“The new Lexus IS Hybrid is a real turning point in terms of design and performance,” says Andrea Carlucci, Toyota Marketing and Lexus Director in Italy. “It is unmatched in both areas, and it’s a hybrid, which distinctly differentiates the brand from all competitors. The ‘Trace Your Road’ campaign and experiential event are spectacular examples of how unique this car is.”

The collected footage was assembled into “Trace Your Road” a broadcast commercial campaign created by Saatchi & Saatchi Italy and featuring :15, :30, :60 and 1:20 commercial spots, along with a behind-the-scenes documentary, produced by Movie Magic and Directed by Logan’s Alan Bibby with App design/generative visuals by Fake Love.

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi
Executive Creative Director: Agostino Toscana
Creative Directors: Luca Lorenzini, Luca Pannese
Art directors: Giulio Frittaion, Michele Sartori.
Copywriters: Massimo Paternoster, Tommaso Zago.
Group Account: Monica Cassano, Chiara Torelli
Head of Tv: Raffaella Scarpetti.
Producer: Ella Elliott

Production Company: Movie Magic International
Executive Producer: Giorgio Borghi
Producer: Walter Ricciardi
DOP: Massimiliano Gatti
Editor: Wilma Conte

Post Production: LOGAN
Executive Producer: Dan Sormani

Live Action Director/Creative Director: Alan Bibby
POST PRODUCTION Producer: Eunice Kim
VFX Supervisor: John Corbett

Designers: Kenji Yamashita, Lutz Vogel, Will Arnold, Rick Kuan, Aaron Maurer

2d Animators: Lutz Vogel, Rick Kuan, Dave Rogers, Adam Stockett

3d Animators: Tehmina Beg, Warren Heimall, John Velazquez

Nuke Compositors: Paulo Dias, Lu Liu, Coche Gonzalez

Flame: Joanne Ungar, John Budion

Generative Visuals, Projection, Interactivity and Additional Post VFX: Fake Love

Producers: J.J. Wilmoth, Marie Celine Merret

Head of Creative Strategy: Josh Horowitz
Executive Creative Director: Layne Braunstein
Lead Designers: Blair Neal, Dan Moore
Designer: Ekene Ijeoma
2d and 3d Animation: Atanas Djibirov
Computer vision using ofxCv by Kyle McDonald

Original Music: Alessandro Cristofori and Diego Perugini for Stabbiolo Music

Sound design: Top Digital