In the Hands of Perfection

I know that because of my physical disability I could probably never be a card stacker. After seeing the Lexus spot above my feelings were confirmed. Not only does stacking cards take extraordinarily steady hands but it also takes the patience of a saint. The fact that patience is even required automatically disqualifies me.

For this TV spot Lexus requested the services of Bryan Berg, the world-record holder in cardstacking. It took berg 18 days and 108,864 cards to create the structure used. The commercial’s premise was to demonstrate how quite the Lexus ES’s engine can be, I believe. But seeing all the cards come crashing down because of a door slam would irritate me as a viewer but that doesn’t really matter.

If I tried placing more then two or three cards together they would all just keep falling down. Berg has to have the hands of an angel to be able to create such environments. I would have quit on my second attempt once the cards fell to the ground. I wouldn’t even bother picking them up.

Also, didn’t the car maker have a similar spot but instead of using cards they used champagne glasses or something? I believe the spot was called “Balance,” for the Lexus LS 400. Click here to see the spot. Obviously, it wasn’t the same spot but the idea was similar, no?

The card spot was great creative execution on the part of the ad agency, Team One. Did that spot resonate with the target audience, are they looking for the quietest ride possible? I think the spot only helped those already looking to buy a Lexus feel confident in their decision. But is it truly the perfect car? I can’t answer that we all have our own opinion.

But with respect to the ad, the idea has been executed before in my opinion. Also, both ads were done by Team One. The agency/client relationship lasted for quite sometime now, that’s great to see.

Best,
A.B.