Lexus NZ turned its ASB Classic tennis sponsorship into a digital art experience with ‘Amazing Replays’, a collaboration with Saatchi & Saatchi and Spark Foundry.
A mix of digital AI technology and human input, with involvement from Sky TV, created Lexus's best sale year in New Zealand, according to Saatchi & Saatchi NZ.
Saatchi & Saatchi NZ general manager, Susie Darling, described the campaign as "a marriage of art and code, collaboration, blood, sweat and tears".
“We wanted to turn the court into art, and we wanted the craft, design and art which Lexus represents, to come into tennis,” Darling told AdNews.
Jon Baxter, director of perceptual engineering, completed all the AI training for light, shadows and players.
When it got to ASB Classic, the live rally data was transferred from the sky cameras back to Perceptual Engineering, which the AI was supporting in real time.
They then generated the different artwork and fed it back out to the stadium, so spectators could get a better version of the rallies than what they'd just seen in real life.
“AI had to do the ball track that needed to generate the artwork, faster than Baxter could himself through programs like Flame, TOUCHDESIGNERS and Unreal Engines,” Darling said.
“It was a combination of new AI technology, and over 50 years of Baxter’s experience.
“There was probably three months of development, coding, research and training AI to get to that point.
Darling said that AI in live broadcast is a high stakes game, and there were a lot of reasons for them to not do this campaign.
“It was going to be hard; it was going to be time consuming. We didn't know if it would work, so it was quite high risk from a client point of view," she said.
Lexus New Zealand manager Craig Burton said that part of the success of the collaboration was the long-standing relationship and trust between Lexus, Publicis Groupe and Saatchi & Saatchi.
“When it first came back and we looked at the concept, I did wonder how it would play out. We always tried to give Saatchi & Saatchi a reality check on whether ideas were possible,” Burton said.
“We didn't want to have just stock standard visibility or brand association with using our brand logo in the bottom corner.
“We wanted to have relevance and appeal to the broad audience that we have with ASB Classic.
“To get into that tennis culture and create a story where people felt a little bit more engaged with us, our partners, and the event."
The creative resulted in more than 80,0000 organic views on social media, 1.3 million viewers during the tournament and 29% uplift of website traffic, according to Saatchi & Saatchi NZ.
“Its success also confirmed the appetite for a modern, elevated tennis viewing experience,” Darling said.
“We will definitely be using AI to bring to life an exciting new concept for this year's ASB Classic.
Darling said that as brand collaborators, if you've got the shared ambition, and everyone's happy to push boundaries together, then you can tackle any big challenge.
“We've set a very clear precedent that we need to embrace cutting edge solutions in future campaigns," she said.
Spark Foundry general manager client service, Kelly Rosnell-Shand, said that the campaign marked a turning point for Lexus, designed to refresh brand perception through innovation and increase cultural relevance.
"Our strategy prioritised visibility and mental availability, delivering standout event integration and measuring success through engagement, website traffic, and enquiry metrics - all of which produced positive results," Rosnell-Shand said.
Burton described the campaign as an opportunity to leverage AI tools while ensuring human input and collaboration keeps work efficient.
“This set a new benchmark for us in terms of how we activate within Media and we want to extend on that," he said.
“Lexus is growing into a lifestyle brand. We're trying to grow the desirability, so we want to make sure that we're presenting ourselves in a way that was creative, while using modern technology as well.
“We've got another season coming up in 2026, which we’ll be looking to leverage that property in a creative and unique way.
“While also exploring how we can flow this technology into other campaigns and activations we do with our brand.”
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.