Successfully launched the Lexus CT200h hybrid in the US via the establishment of a content/entertainment platform that reinvented the test drive for a young digitally savvy audience via the rabidly received immersive interactive film Dark Ride (TheFWA’s People’s Choice Site of the Year, shortlisted at Cannes for Best Interactive Film). The CT200h garnered the highest number of handraisers in Lexus’ history and became the best selling hybrid in America.
“The client went with Skinny's idea for an interactive experience with strong game elements. It's garnering a lot of love in the online community.” - Variety
“This approach to selling cars is interesting” – The Wall Street Journal
“For anyone who has been stuck behind a slow-moving Prius in a no-passing zone, the film’s chase sequences should be refreshing.” – The Wall Street Journal
“It's becoming increasingly difficult to blow people's minds with web design, but the combination of filmic and interactive content makes Dark Ride well worth a play, and goes some way towards disentangling the hybrid from the sweaty claws of the socks-and-sandals brigade. Green has never looked so sexy.“ – Contagious
“The campaign takes the idea of interactive film to the next level” – Creativity Magazine
“I was blown away…I was totally engrossed until the very end and immediately shared with my close associates, which is something I rarely do these days” – TheFWA
People’s Choice Site of The Year Award Winner – The FWA
Best Interactive List Shortlist – Cannes Lions
“Toyota’s luxury division tapped MDC Partners’ creative agency Skinny for the Dark Ride assignment. Skinny’s co-chief creative officers Jonas Hallberg and Liron Reznik came up with the idea for the interactive film…The Dark Ride project does successfully position Lexus' CT model as a competitor to the sleek models of BMW and Audi…building a new brand association and viral buzz is what it is all about for Lexus.” - Brandweek