Toyota picks PAA for £1m Lexus task

Toyota GB has appointed Partners Andrews Aldridge to handle its £1m direct marketing business for its luxury car brand Lexus.

The account moves from WWAV Rapp Collins, which will continue to handle the direct marketing for Toyota. This is the first time a separate agency has been appointed for the Lexus marque.

Partners Andrews Aldridge pitched against two other undisclosed agencies, and the review was overseen by the AAR.

The appointment was made by Lexus general manager of marketing David Brimson, who says the company is changing the way it promotes the Lexus brand. “For the past few years we have been launching vehicles and building our retail outlets. We want to reinforce our customer service,” he says.

Partners Andrews Aldridge will work alongside Saatchi & Saatchi, Lexus’s advertising agency which creates the marque’s advertising with the tagline “It’s a feeling inside”.

Brimson says he chose the agency because it was “hungry”, and because he felt that a smaller agency would put more effort into building the brand.

Over the past three years Lexus has distanced itself from its parent company. It now has 48 of its own retail outlets, and no longer shares any retail presence with Toyota in the UK.