'Darkcasting' talk show takes place in a Lexus CT 200h
(November 17, 2010) TORRANCE, Calif. --- Introducing "Darkcasting." It's part test drive, part late night talk show, part real time feedback. Whatever it is, it's no 30-second spot for the new Lexus CT 200h, but an actual series hosted by actress and stand-up comedian Whitney Cummings that captures the (nearly) unfiltered conversations of influential personalities who take the new Lexus hybrid for a spin in their home cities -- San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles, and New Orleans. The net result is a series of conversational vignettes -- the kind that happen when influencers drive through storied neighborhoods and compare reference points and shared nostalgia. “Which neighborhood do you call home? How would you say the city’s energy has shaped you?”
"With Darkcasting, we’re providing a mobile studio from which an entertaining talk show takes place against a moving cityscape. It helps us see the car through the lens of creative people from a variety of professional fields," says Dave Nordstrom, Lexus vice president of marketing.
"The show features a group of real drivers, not just driving enthusiasts, who give their honest impressions of the car and what is most relevant for them -- maybe it's the 42 miles per gallon or maybe it's simply fun to drive."Lexus anticipates that the talk show will, quite literally, jump start the conversation within the varied social networks of the influencers/drivers because of the context they provide. For example turntable master DJ Qbert and soul singing Goapale drive the CT across the Bay Bridge and discuss Oakland’s music scene; Model and it-girl Harley Viera-Newton cruises past her favorite boutiques in the Lower East Side of Manhattan. These, and other drivers will showcase the car's relevance to potential customers, urban progressive consumers for whom the car was conceived.
"Darkcasting" is another program in the brand's multi-phased introduction of the CT, the newest gateway product to Lexus, through the creation of branded content. "Darkcasting" follows last summer’s original short film "Dark Ride," which first teased consumers to engage with the CT while sitting shotgun in a thrilling, interactive online chase.
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