Jeb Corliss jumps 12,000 ft and takes delivery of the all-new Lexus RX via M&C Saatchi Sydney
To demonstrate its belief in a confident new mindset, Lexus Australia set out to create a campaign through a brave act via M&C Saatchi Sydney.
Searching the world for a Lexus driver who dares to step forward, Lexus Australia brought Jeb Corliss to Australia to get behind the wheel of the first RX in the country in the most dramatic way possible.
One of the world’s top wingsuit pilots, Corliss took delivery of the first Lexus RX in Australia in only a way he could, jumping from a Caribou plane at 12,000 feet above sea level, flying via wingsuit and landing on a flat-bed trailer carrying the Lexus RX.
Says Corliss: “I’ve been a Lexus driver for over seven years, so when Lexus Australia approached me to come up with a brave and challenging way to get behind the first RX in Australia, I was excited to push limits and take viewers of the film alongside me through a virtual reality rig.”
In addition to the hero film – which runs on TV, cinema and digital – viewers are also invited on the journey through social content films, sharing the story of anticipation leading to the jump.
In an Australian and automotive first, viewers can participate through Corliss’ perspective in a 360-degree Virtual Reality immersive experience on YouTube masthead on launch day (23 November 2015), produced by M&C Saatchi Sydney and The Media Store in collaboration with Rapid VR and Google.
Says Andy Dilallo, chief creative officer, M&C Saatchi Sydney: “It took a brave client to step forward and set up delivery of their first RX in such a daring way. In taking a risk and creating this content, Lexus has produced iconic work with a fresh and unique brand perspective.”
Comprising four cameras on set, plus Corliss’ rig, a 60-person crew activated the jump, which took two months of production planning and took place in Goulburn, New South Wales over three days in October 2015. Requiring high-levels of precision reflective of the Lexus RX, Corliss completed the jump in just three attempts.
Says Adrian Weimers, corporate manager, Lexus Australia: “Jeb Corliss personifies the Lexus mindset embodied in designing the all-new Lexus RX luxury SUV – of being bold and brave.”
Lexus celebrates 25 years of bold design and quality craftsmanship in Australia this year.
M&C Saatchi Sydney
Chief Creative Officer: Andy DiLallo
Creative Directors: Chris Little / Andy Flemming
Art Director: Chris Little
Copywriter: Rupert Taylor
Broadcast Producer: Lill Ireland
Group Head: Nick Russo
Senior Account Director: Lauren Trace
Strategy Director: Michael Sinclair
Lexus RX TV
Production Company: Rapid Films
Director: Jonathan Nyquist
Producer: Alex Tizzard
Director of Photography: Lachlan Milne
Audio: Song Zu
Grade: Ben Eagleton @ BE Colour
Post Production: Alt VFX
Lexus RX 360
Production Company: Rapid VR
Director: Dave Klaiber
Executive Producer: Susannah Dilallo
Audio: Song Zu
Post Production: Rapid VR
Lexus Social Content
Filmed, produced and edited by Byron Quandary
Lexus Australia
Corporate Manager: Adrian Weimers
Manager Marketing: Julie Hutchinson
The Media Store
The White Agency
Google Australia
43 Comments
Nice one Johnno and Al. Great job.
We’re kinda like redbull, just not as daring, and a car brand.
That is sick. Corliss is the man, man.
Lovely stuff.
M&C definitely on a roll right now.
Like epic split when you take away the epic and the split
Seeing as there hasn’t been a decent car ad for a very long time in this country, this is rather lovely spot.
Would have been a difficult sell.
Congratulations.
Well, that was underwhelming. The PR release was more interesting than the ad.
The press release is an embarrassment of PR nonsense.
Impressive ad. Nice work by all.
Nice one the Andys.
The benchmark for Australian car ads at the moment is very low. This one is slightly above average. Nothing to see here. Move along.
Goulburn is where it is at.
This is lame. The headline was pure clickbait.
Nice piece of content and got on a breakfast show this morning. Job done.
Gah, so close.
Why the beautiful (but irrelevant) Cinematic Orchestra soundtrack and spelling out the shite ‘philosophé’ in supers at the start?
It makes a great, simple heist spot really lame. It’s either that or the end VO that ruins it for me: ‘For those who…’ is really lazy writing.
Close, but feels like this one has the client / research groups’ paws all over it. Get rid of the supers and VO before you enter it into anything. Doesn’t need spelling out.
Almost well done boys.
i’m worried about the carbon footprint. couldn’t they have just dropped the car off at his flat, er Malibu beach house?
Yeah “That guy” is right. If only the ad had any original thought whatsoever, it might have been in contention for something. To remove the horse poo poo stink maybe try putting in a real insight or a random element like a farting crayfish. That way people would still have no recollection of the brand, but at least they’d remember that ad with the farting crayfish.
So close guys, hope you take this constructive criticism on board. (ie, it’s just sheet metal you’re selling, lighten up)
Hang on – didn’t we do this first on Top Gear???
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C4FYc31rcI
A whole lot of borrowed interest going on with this ad. Does very little for the car. Big and expensive, but in the end ordinary.
Hey, Jeb!!! Come back you bastard!!!!!
Put up or shut up. Open any magazine. Watch any commercial break. Read any bus side. ‘Engage’ with any banner. The work is god-awful, which means that the people who whine about the work on here are responsible for it. But still, anything with a little bit of something, effort, creativity, difficulty that gets put on here is ripped to shreds by the same people.
I have no idea where this hatred for Australian advertising comes from.
Is it tall-poppy? Or is the industry just full of absolute pricks? This thing would have been a bitch to sell and looks amazing. And it’s got Jeb Corliss in it – so I love it.
And unlike the majority of car ads which are either produced overseas and reworked for here – or produced here and have a huge idea like ‘Let’s call Mitsubishi cars ‘Mitzi’ – this one is actually really good.
And no. I don’t work for M&C. But our work has been slagged off as much as this.
(In fact, isn’t it terrifying that ANY comment that says work is good is ripped into as agency staff grass cutting? So slag = the norm. Positive comments, well, they can’t be from US so they must be from the agency.)
Get on with trying to beat this as opposed to bringing it down.
Try-hard bollocks. A really good car should not need contrived borrowed interest.
A highly polished turd.
Hear Hear Toby.
I think Old CD guy proved your point.
this car is very fast
and the guy is flying fast too
and so im going to buy the car
so i can fly too.
That was one expensive piece of turd polishing.
Name the last great thing you did ‘WOW.’
If you can’t, then fuck off back to your bus-sides.
I’m serious.
‘WOW, ‘Old CD guy’,’Quality Control,’Diedrick von Knobend,’Read what you write,’ and ‘JCVD’ – name the last piece of quality work you did.
You have until end of play tomorrow,
If you can’t, or if you continue to hide behind anonymity – then we’ll take it as read that you’re not only frustrated juniors – you’re not even talented juniors.
Have the balls to put up or shut the fuck up.
Because you’re fucking this industry with your bullshit.
Talk to you 5:00pm tomorrow.
Hey Young CD Guy, tell us why you think it’s so good then.
The car stuff is not all that different to anything else I’ve seen. It’s nice but not great. The aerial footage is very nice, and the stunt is great…. but the link to the car is a bit thin. The heist idea I’ve seen before. It’s an OK car ad but not great. IMHO.
It has very little to do with this particular ad. (Although for an Australian car ad – it’s one of the really good ones.) It has much more to do with this achingly sad anonymous bullshit sniping of absolutely EVERYTHING that gets put on this site. Stuff that’s gone on to win multiple awards has been ripped to shreds on here. And it’s sad. And it’s boring. And it’s awful for everyone concerned. Surely everyone on here has stuck something up that took months to make, get approved, get shot, get researched, get presented only to have someone call it a ‘polished turd,’ ‘done before,’ ‘shit’ or just hated in general. Did I make this? No. Would I be happy if I’d made it? Yes. Have I stuck work on here that’s been universally panned? Yes. Have I had upset clients call the agency because they assume everyone thinks the work is awful? Yup. So like I said, the anonymous commenters – unless they work overseas, at Clems Melbourne, M&C or The Monkeys should present what they’ve been up to. Because it will be, and this is a fact, far, far worse than this. We’ve got something going up on here in the next week or so. I fully expect it to be hated even though I think it’s great and we’re very proud of it. And isn’t that shit? And, of course if anyone says they like it then they must ‘work for the agency’ and that’s my point. We simply cannot believe that ANYONE can EVER like work on here – unless they made it themselves. And that’s a horrible state to be in.
Fair enough. FWIW, I don’t shoot everything down, nor do I get nasty with unpleasant language. And I think that’s a line people shouldn’t cross. I do also think it’s reasonable to have a debate on things like wow factor over idea…and relevance. That was my beef with this one…. I won’t go on. Good luck with whatever it is that’s coming out soon.
I thought we were done with ads of cars being stolen/taken off the back of a car transporter truck?
How is Lexus stepping forward, when they’re obviously stepping back, or maybe that’s M&C…
He steps off a plane.
Even I got that.
Hello Mr\Ms 5 minutes.So we are not just a normal run of the mill hater we are specifically a M&C hater.That agency has survived,surprised and disappointed hundreds of little haters like you since they started all those years ago.
Funny how the haters fail to acknowledge things like Agency of the Year,most awarded agency in Australia as well as being the biggest(no easy feat),their beautiful art deco building on Macquarie St and the best hires in the market over the last few years.
I’m with young CD here.
What a depressing lot so many of you have become.
Nup. Still a polished turd. Sorry.
I agree Toby. While I may throw the odd barb here and there, the object on this blog should be to be constructive – or at the very least, funny. Or cruel, crass and insipid. As Gina Rinehart might say, if I’m not stimulating, there’s no point in bothering.
We all ran. We all ran a mile.
Oh, and Young CD guy who is also anonymous, take a chill pill. Banter like this has been happening on here for years. I don’t give a fuck if you think I’m a junior or whatever. As long as this forum allows anonymity, it’ll never change. One way to not get frustrated is to not read it. Pretty simple. The other is to do great ads. Again, pretty simple. You can get all uppity, but I’ve seen comments like yours come and go for many years here and they make no difference. Well, they make it entertaining to read, I guess. So the sooner you realise people can bitch or praise as much as they like in here the more at peace with the world you will be. Oh, and it’s still a really bad ad. If it was this amazing creation you obviously think it is, the world would be talking about it and praising it. But it’s not. Because it ain’t. Live with it. Now that Baked Beans ad with the astronauts, that’s great!
Anonymous Young CD guy, most creatives make ads that don’t win Lions all the time. I know when something I’ve done is just ok. But why PR it? My beef isn’t with the average idea, it’s with the fact someone thought, let’s PR this on an ad industry blog, read by creatives. The standard should be higher than the average ad you see when you’re watching The Bachelor. Making an ad without a 20% off tactical offer shouldn’t be seen as an achievement.
WOW?
Worn Out Wanker.
Banter?
Really?
Some of the most awarded campaigns to come out of this country have been slashed to pieces in here.
And although it might seem fun to rip into well-known creatives and their work anonymously, it’s putting off a huge amount of juniors who must think a) there’s no work AT ALL coming out of this country and B) we’re all cunts anyway.
Either way it’s unpleasant for all concerned.
Hey 5 Minutes’-when did you get fired by M&C?
I don’t think anyone rips on work they don’t genuinely think is below par.
We’re all in this industry because we appreciate great creative, so disappointing work upsets us and great work inspires us.
On this site, i’ve panned work that should be better and applauded work i think is great.
It’s that simple.
I’ve found it’s generally not a bad gauge.
Your thick skin will grow in time. It’s part of the soul crushing gig we signed up to.
Hey gotta admit.
It’s a good well-crafted remake of a fast and the furious-type scene. But that’s it.
Those suggesting it’s going to get rolled gold at some award festival by removing a couple of supers are probably smoking some other rolled item.
But maybe enter it in craft. Not seeing the sort of original thinking here that judges would typically applaud.
Ok, so here’s the thing.
I reckon all of us (including me) really want to see a great ad.
In fact, there’s nothing all of us want to see MORE than a great ad.
An ad that takes your breath away with its brilliant simplicity.
An ad that communicates some sort of claim with unarguable clarity and persuasion.
Often, it does that with great originality.
And when we see an ad like that, we, (including me) get very excited and tend to praise it.
We’re elated. Because that perfect moment is what we strive for.
Notwithstanding that this is from a good agency, this is NOT that ad.
So we’re disappointed.
That’s all.