Pandora amps up Lexus advertising

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The “Engineering Amazing” campaign utilizes a new full screen billboard unit on Pandora’s website that includes a special “Future-Proof station” from KCRW-FM LA legendary Music Director and DJ Nic Harcourt to identify songs of today that he believes will be listened to 10, 20 even 50 years from now. The Future-Proof station on Pandora is a playlist of 100 songs that he predicts will stand the test of time. Listeners also have the option to submit the songs that they believe are “future-proof.”


Harcourt is currently at KCSN-FM LA, Editor at Large: Music and Culture for LA: The Los Angeles Times Magazine, and the host and interviewer for DirecTV’s Guitar Center Sessions.

The new HTML5-enabled ad unit on the recently redesigned Pandora website is a large format 970×250 banner inclusive of a video and an integrated skin.

The ad, part of the Lexus ‘Engineering Amazing’ campaign, is targeted to adults ages 25-54 and is the first impression these listeners will see upon starting their Pandora stations. The large format ad integrates seamlessly into the listening experience, while accentuating the sleek, modern creative on Pandora’s web platform. The creative includes a Lexus branded integrated skin and showcases the “Crash Test Genius” Lexus video.

In the last few months, the partnership has also produced the Pandora One trial offer: Targeted listeners received an offer to try Pandora One, Pandora’s premium service that is ad-free, for 30-days at no cost courtesy of Lexus.

RBR-TVBR observation: Pandora is really showing some creativity here in immersing brands into its service, given that Pandora is not yet integrated into Lexus cars. Demos that are familiar with Harcourt are very congruent with Lexus’ target buyers—especially in California. We would expect Clear Channel’s iHeartRadio to do similar things in local markets with advertisers and local music celebs.