We would really like to meet the nutters who run Lexus’s marketing and publicity departments because these guys have some crazy ideas as to what constitutes a good publicity effort for a brand like Lexus. This time they have covered a Lexus IS in 41,999 programmable LEDs so that they can feature it in Dua Lipa’s new music video for her hit song “Be the One.”
If you don’t know who that is, well, you are not alone, but apparently she’s a chart-topping British poster and Lexus apparently thought having a prominent role in her music video as a giant glitz ball would definitely help with their traditional customer base, which mainly include academics and moderately successful business people who can’t afford a Mercedes or a Bimmer.
The Lexus LIT IS, as they call this LED-covered car, is capable of broadcasting graphics, and also generate animations in response to gestures and music. It produces 175,000 lumens when fully illuminated, and the LED strips, if placed end-to-end, would stretch half a mile in length. But perhaps the most mind-bending feature of the car is the fact that all of the very nearly 42K LEDs have been applied by hand!
“A car as visually striking as the LIT IS required an equally dramatic debut,” said Brian Bolain, Lexus general manager of product and consumer marketing. “A music video was a perfect place to launch the LIT IS and working with Dua Lipa allowed the concept to come to life, putting a spotlight on the Lexus IS in an entirely new way.”
