Lexus has an incredible concept car to show, and they chose the Detroit autoshow to do it. It couldn’t have been better received or presented at a more appropriate venue. Taking over the real estate of the Toyota booth, the space was transformed into a theatre with outstanding media and design from O2 Creative Solutions.

The launch of the new LC 500 concept was the talk of the show, with USA Today noting that it was one of three vehicles that stole the day. Lexus brought on its most important and powerful evangelist to do the introduction, Akio Toyoda, Chief Branding Officer and Master Driver. Mr. Toyoda has a second job as president of Lexus’ slightly better known parent company, Toyota.

UVLD was brought on by George P. Johnson executive producer Rick Voigt as lighting designer, and founding partner Gregory Cohen designed with Kevin Lawson as programmer. Jeff Quinn was our production electrician, assisted by Todd Latia, with gear coming from TLS.

Cohen notes the design here was unique: “The set featured white walls and a deck that almost glided to turntable height — all the lines in in the booth were smooth, and everything was white. We therefore lit everything smoothly, without texture, and in white. It matched the set and the clean lines of the vehicle, but it looked very different from anything we’ve done before at the autoshow. We didn’t introduce color until the introduction video for the LC 500, and where we went red to highlight the fantastic red of the car. By holding back – never my forte – we were able to make the reveal itself more dramatic.”

You can judge for yourself; the fantastic media team at Lexus has put a video of the show online.

The autoshow is a tough place to get noticed, but with a stand-out, best-in-class concept like the LC 500 we were given a the opportunity to follow O2’s creative leadership with a show that shined. It was a great chance to work on a great launch, and we were thrilled to be there.