Lintas Beijing wins two large Lexus projects in China

Saatchi & Saatchi has its dedicated Lexus agency called Team One Asia is the AOR for Lexus for Toyota in China, but these two biggest projects has been moved out from the creative AOR.

Source closed to the account said that Lintas Beijing, which also handle the Audi account in China, won the creative aspect of the TV campaign for these two projects, which would be part of the integrated marketing campaign that Team One Asia would also be involved.

Lang Lixin, vice president of Lexus China, said at the press event at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition in April , "Lexus will continue to follow the path of 'change' and bring more exciting transformations to consumers. We have designated 2012 as the 'Inaugural Year of China's Hybrid Era', and therefore, plan to offer more hybrid models that balance environmental-friendliness and driving experience to the market.

According to local media, Lexus sold 56,303 vehicles in China last year, a modest increase of 6 per cent over its 2010 tally of about 53,000 - at the same time China's luxury market soared by nearly 40 per cent to 950,000 units.

A significant reason for the shortfall was the Japan earthquake that caused production halts at most of Japan's carmakers and components suppliers. Production by Lexus only started to recover in July.

Lexus has a later entry into China market, as It opened its first dedicated showrooms  in 2005, after beginning imports in 1993, comparing to Audi, the popular luxury car brand among Chinese bureaucrats, is owned by Volkswagen, which entered the market in 1985.

Globally, Toyota has historically been Saatchi & Saatchi's key long-term account, however it lost the account in a number of key markets including UK and Asia, and is now has four agency network including Dentsu as its roaster agencies.