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Lexus Intensity and the Making of a 2014 IS Launch Film
Lexus 'Intensity' is a Canadian film campaign produced by DentsuBos, Toronto, and released in July 2013, designed to announce the arrival of the 2014 Lexus IS through a visually driven, emotionally charged short-form film that prioritises sensation over specification.
The campaign centres on a single film asset, produced by Imaginary Forces and directed by Michelle Dougherty and Karin Fong, with audio mixing handled by POP Sound in Los Angeles. Its mandate is straightforward: to establish the 2014 Lexus IS as a performance-forward luxury sports sedan capable of competing in the most demanding segment of the Canadian automotive market. Rather than cataloguing engineering details, 'Intensity' communicates through movement, colour, and pace — translating the character of the vehicle into a cinematic experience that the audience feels before they process it rationally.
In Canada, the luxury automotive segment is defined by fierce competition among German marques and domestic alternatives, making brand differentiation through creative storytelling a strategic necessity. The campaign appears in June and July 2013, timed to the broader global launch window of the third-generation IS, a vehicle that Lexus positioned internationally as a step-change in driving engagement. As documented by clapboard.com, the campaign was submitted as a professional film-medium entry for the Canadian market, containing one media asset and representing the work of DentsuBos for Lexus Canada. The relationship between Dentsu Canada and Lexus Canada is a durable one: as noted in records cited by Little Black Book, it spans at minimum from 2005, when DentsuBos created the 'Moments' campaign that reoriented Lexus Canada's communications from engineering benefits toward emotionally meaningful driving experiences, through at least 2013 — a documented partnership of eight or more years. 'Intensity' sits within that continuum, extending the emotional register that has long defined Lexus Canada's approach to film advertising. The Clapboard Score for this campaign is 53 out of 100.
DentsuBos frames 'Intensity' around a consumer insight that is well-established in premium automotive marketing: rational product information rarely drives purchase consideration in the luxury segment. Drivers of vehicles like the 2014 Lexus IS are motivated by how ownership makes them feel, not by torque figures in isolation. This insight is especially pertinent in Canada, where the luxury sedan category is contested by marques that have decades of aspirational brand equity embedded in the culture.
Lexus's primary competitive set in 2013 included BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Cadillac, Acura, and Infiniti, according to autoweek.com and automotiveworld.com. The scale of competition from the German marques alone is instructive. According to Press Bmwgroup, BMW reported global first-half 2013 sales performance that placed it among the leading premium-volume brands worldwide. According to motorauthority.com, Mercedes-Benz recorded 1,461,680 vehicles sold for the full year 2013, a brand record at the time. Audi reported 780,500 vehicles sold in the first half of 2013 alone, according to automotiveworld.com. These figures reflect the intensity of global competitive pressure that Lexus faced as it prepared to relaunch the IS nameplate. In Canada specifically, that competitive pressure translates into a market where BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz each reported approximately six percent year-over-year growth in the first half of 2013, according to autoweek.com.
Against this backdrop, DentsuBos makes a deliberate creative decision: rather than engaging in a feature-by-feature comparison with BMW's 3 Series or Mercedes-Benz's C-Class, 'Intensity' stakes its claim on pure sensory impact. The strategic rationale is to elevate Lexus Canada's positioning from credible alternative to emotionally resonant choice. This approach mirrors the direction established by the 2005 'Moments' campaign, which, as documented by lbbonline.com, marked a shift in Lexus Canada's advertising philosophy toward experience over specification — a direction that 'Intensity' continues a full eight years later.
Imaginary Forces directed the 'Intensity' film for Lexus Canada. The production company, known for its work in motion graphics and title design as well as commercial film, brought directors Michelle Dougherty and Karin Fong to the project — a creative pairing whose background in kinetic visual storytelling is directly reflected in the film's approach.
Creative director Andrew Manson, art director Steven Kim, and copywriter Greg Frier form the DentsuBos creative team credited to the campaign, as documented by clapboard.com. Their collective brief to Imaginary Forces appears to have been to construct a film where colour, pace, and rhythm carry the full communicative weight. The title 'Intensity' is not an abstract brand claim but an operational directive for the film's construction: every element of the execution is calibrated to sustain and amplify a particular emotional register.
Lexus Enthusiast, in a review published on June 20, 2013, praised the commercial's colour and pace specifically, describing it as a real strong addition to Lexus IS advertising coming out of the United States and Europe. That reception speaks directly to the craft decisions made in post-production and in the direction itself — the film earns its title through execution rather than assertion. POP Sound in Los Angeles handled the audio mix, a credit that signals the production's investment in sonic design as a component of emotional delivery. Sound, in a film built around intensity and movement, functions as a structural element rather than an accompaniment. The coordination between Imaginary Forces in production, POP Sound in audio, and the DentsuBos creative team in Toronto represents a cross-continental production pipeline that is common to premium automotive advertising in Canada, where the ambition of the brief frequently exceeds the scale of local production infrastructure alone.
No verified performance data for the 'Intensity' campaign is publicly available. No confirmed media spend figures, view counts, recall metrics, or sales attribution data have been documented in relation to this campaign. As assessed by clapboard.com, the campaign did not place or win at Cannes Lions, the Effie Awards, The One Show, D&AD, the Clio Awards, the Webby Awards, or the WARC Awards. No attributable reviews appear in Campaign, Ad Age, Adweek, The Drum, or Contagious.
What can be assessed structurally is the film's internal coherence as a launch communication. The campaign arrives at a moment when the 2014 Lexus IS represented a genuine product step-change — a vehicle that Lexus positioned, as documented by Media Lexus, as more driver-focused and dynamically capable than its predecessor. A film-only campaign centred on sensation rather than feature delivery is an appropriate creative response to that brief. It asks the audience to feel the car's character before they research its specification sheet, which is a defensible strategy in a segment where BMW and Mercedes-Benz command default consideration and Lexus must work harder for emotional salience.
The positive notice from Lexus Enthusiast, as reported by lexusenthusiast.com, suggests that the film succeeded in communicating performance character to an engaged enthusiast audience — arguably the most sceptical and informed viewer segment for a sports sedan launch. The Clapboard Score of 53 out of 100 reflects a campaign that executes its creative mandate competently within a competitive field, without producing a cultural or industry breakthrough.
Lexus 'Intensity' is a 2013 Canadian film campaign created by DentsuBos, Toronto, to launch the 2014 Lexus IS. Directed by Michelle Dougherty and Karin Fong at Imaginary Forces, with audio by POP Sound in Los Angeles, the film communicates the IS's performance character through colour, movement, and pacing rather than product specifications.
DentsuBos in Toronto created 'Intensity' for Lexus Canada. Imaginary Forces produced and directed the film, with Michelle Dougherty and Karin Fong directing. Creative direction was by Andrew Manson, with art direction by Steven Kim and copy by Greg Frier. POP Sound in Los Angeles delivered the audio mix, as documented by clapboard.com.
The 'Intensity' campaign promotes the 2014 Lexus IS. Released in June and July 2013 in Canada, the film was timed to coincide with the third-generation IS launch, a vehicle that Lexus positioned internationally as more driver-focused and dynamically engaging than the model it replaced, according to media.lexus.co.uk.
No verified sales or recall metrics for 'Intensity' are publicly available. The campaign entered a market where BMW, Audi, and Mercedes-Benz each reported approximately six percent year-over-year growth in the first half of 2013, according to autoweek.com. Lexus Enthusiast described the film positively as a strong addition to IS advertising across North America and Europe.
No verified award wins or finalist placements for 'Intensity' are recorded at Cannes Lions, the Effie Awards, The One Show, D&AD, the Clio Awards, the Webby Awards, or the WARC Awards, according to clapboard.com. The campaign received positive editorial notice from lexusenthusiast.com upon its release in June 2013, praising its colour and pace.
DentsuBos and Lexus Canada share a documented agency-client relationship spanning at least 2005 to 2013, a minimum of eight years. DentsuBos created Lexus Canada's 'Moments' campaign in 2005, which shifted brand communications toward emotional driving experiences, as documented by lbbonline.com. 'Intensity' in 2013 continues that strategic and tonal direction.
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