Lexus’ Innovative New Mobile Advertisement

Toyota’s Lexus brand is promoting its GS F in an unusually tactile manner: Opera Mediaworks and Immersion Corporation have teamed up to help marketers improve campaign performance by adding touch technology to video.

Along with its advertising agency Team One, the brand has partnered with marketing platform Opera Mediaworks and haptic technology licensor Immersion Corporation to design a Lexus mobile advertisement that causes the phone to vibrate to recreate the feeling of driving the vehicle. An innovative advertisement that engages the consumer’s senses in a new way will make a stronger impression, leading to increased conversion rates.

The Lexus GS F is a 467 horsepower model sport sedan priced with an MSRP beginning at $84,440. The ad, which includes both a video and a series of informational pages, currently runs on Opera Mediaworks-enabled Android mobile apps in the United States.

The makers of the ad note that it was designed to capture how it feels to drive the GS F in real life. The video shows the GS F as it is jolted to life and given color by machinery, at which point a voice, as if alerting the viewer to the TouchSense effects, warns, “Brace yourself: the first ever GS F is here.” The phone then vibrates as the vehicle accelerates and during other appropriate moments.

Lexus’ vehicle speeds down the road as the engine roars and the voiceover lists off a smattering of the vehicle’s features, all while the phone continues vibrating. The ad concludes at a swift 30 seconds, a length that will ensure the tactic’s novelty does not become tiresome or annoying.

At that point, the viewer is encouraged to “explore” or “learn more” by on-screen prompts, which show off the multimedia display, braking system, engine and interior and exterior design in pop-up windows. Rather than letting the ad settle, immediately providing the means for more information while the impression is still fresh and interest is high could quickly move consumers further down the purchase funnel.

So how does it work? Immersion’s TouchSense technology changes the way that brands can engage consumers. By bringing the sense of touch to mobile advertisements, brands can creatively connect with users enhancing ad recall, strengthening brand impressions, and improving click-through rates.

Ads that included haptic effects saw click-through rates improve between 28 and 220 percent over ads without haptics. One brand experienced a 23 percent increase in positive sentiment, while another saw replay rates increase 31 percent on mobile phones and 59 percent on tablets.

Consumer behavior has shifted heavily in recent years, with the majority of online activity now taking place on mobile devices. Nevertheless, mobile advertising is still a fledgling field in some regards, with marketers grappling with the paradox of a screen that is smaller but also holds potential for more immersive viewing experiences taking up the whole screen.

The habits of consumers on mobile devices as compared to computers are also different, suggesting varying attention spans and interests. By turning a feature that phones have and computers do not – the ability to vibrate – into a part of its advertising strategy, Lexus is showing a willingness to innovate and an awareness of these differences. Being a leader on the front can help it garner market share before tactile ads become commonplace and lose their novelty.

It just goes to show that Lexus is forever on the cutting edge.