Lexus needed a consumer-facing publishing program that would maintain and strengthen the automobile’s integrity as a global luxury brand while making its content meaningful and relevant to readers in a wide range of localities worldwide. Customer loyalty, quality control, and cost efficiencies were all challenges in this scenario. Story’s solution: add localized content to the brand’s high-end travel magazine and push the print edition into the digital realm. Issue after issue, we’ve advanced the brand, bringing it closer to its tightly knit customer base and furthering Lexus’ relentless pursuit of perfection.

In 2002, Story and Lexus launched the first global brand marketing program, aiming to deepen brand loyalty through localized content for Lexus magazine. This glossy periodical covers travel, automobiles, and exclusive luxury experiences of all kinds. Providing localized content made information even more relevant to each individual reader’s life. This project is exemplary of Story’s custom publishing chops.

Lexus Magazine is a bonafide benchmark for branded automotive magazines the world over. Original content from writers such as Michael Shapiro (awarded Best Essay at the prestigious Travel Classics conference for his “Boy of Summer” Lexus feature) and Pulitzer-winner Jane Smiley have engaged the throttle, earning Lexus a serious reputation. Case in point: at this year’s Magnum Opus Awards, Lexus garnered 5 awards––including a Gold Award for Overall Editorial for an Electronic Publication.

Our travel reporting––the most popular content in Lexus by far––has been exhaustive. Travel features, international drive stories, and domestic road trips give Lexus drivers both an eagle-eye and driver’s seat view of the destinations they’ve long-dreamt of visiting—as well as plenty they’d never previously imagined.

We’ve also produced an array of promotional materials to push the envelope in Lexus dealerships. Story has lent typically bland pre-launch brochures, model brochures, event flyers, and change inserts new life with captivating imagery, strong editorial content, and truly beautiful design. Embodying Lexus’ underlying “pursuit of perfection,” these materials reflect a sophistication and understated elegance. They have given the Lexus brand a wider audience while strengthening drivers’ relationships with the brand.

Lexus Online, birthed in 2004, serves as the official home base for Lexus Owners and an outlet for streaming video, vehicle insider information, lifestyle articles, and up-to-date news items. In 2008, we took over Lexus Drivers — a web portal that offers owners a platform from which to manage all aspects of their vehicle. We’ve gone even further since — online extensions of the print magazine include an MSN portal, e-newsletters, web videos, streaming mobile video, travelogues, as well as works of fiction. And Lexus Magazine Mobile keeps connects readers on the go.