Brief and objectives

Lexus approached a number of agencies with a brief to raise awareness of Lexus and hybrid technology online, potentially using a viral mechanism. We proposed a broader online strategy aimed at generating intelligent debate and online buzz amongst an audience they felt more appropriate for the brand.

The result was The Hybrid Debate, a website and blog where the wider issues surrounding hybrid technology and the implications of its mainstream acceptance could be discussed and debated.

The specific areas proposed for discussion were:

• The environment
• Urban planning
• Families and lifestyle
• Politics and energy
• Business and the economy

To kick start the debate writers and commentators with expertise in these particular subjects were asked to imagine a hybrid future and its implications in their specialist area. The team included Chris Vernon, European Editor of The Oil Drum, sustainable living expert Joanna Yarrow, visionary architect Neil Spiller and Sir Bob Geldof.

We built a combined blog for the team of contributors to post their articles and the wider audience were encouraged to add their comments and debate the issues in their own blogs. By tagging their own posts, bloggers would find links to their own articles on The Hybrid Debate website's content aggregator.

In a bold move, Lexus committed to allowing uncensored debate amongst advocates and sceptics of hybrid technology without imposing any restrictions on the comments of both the specialist contributors and the wider audience of bloggers.

To generate awareness of the project and drive traffic to the site, We researched and targeted bloggers active in the five key areas under discussion as well as those with an interest in the automotive sector. We also worked with Lexus on a PR strategy designed to maximise on the comments of the key writers, particularly Bob Geldof whose participation boosted mainstream media interest in the project.

The Hybrid Debate soft launched in Autumn 2007 with postings from initial contributors and further content, including the Geldof articles, added for the official launch in December.

The PR campaign generated articles - and references to the site URL - in The London Evening Standard, Metro and Media Guardian. Over 20 articles were written on and offline with the story picked up around the world in publications as far afield as the Adelaide Advertiser.

More significantly, the online coverage lead to debate on the sites of publications like Autocar, achieving one of the objectives of generating online buzz around Lexus and hybrid technology. Republishing of articles on other sites also generated further debate. Hybrid Debate contributor Chris Vernon reposted his articles on the Oil Drum with each one leading to over 120 comments in response.

The PR push increased traffic to the site significantly driving over 400 visitors to the site on one day and achieving a significant increase in the level of debate. One of Sir Bob Geldof's articles generated over 40 comments. More significantly, the quality of response was very high, with intelligent debate and strong opinions on both sides. As awareness of the debate increases more people are adding their comments and participating in the discussion.

Facts and figures (As at 20th December 2007)

• Over 6000 words media coverage (print and online publications) generated via the PR campaign including articles in the Metro, Evening Standard and Media Guardian (online edition).
• Over 3,000 unique visitors spending an average of 4.10 minutes at www.thehybriddebate.com
• Over 12,000 page views
• Peak visitors on one day = 434
• Over 12,000 words of user comment on The Hybrid Debate website so far
• Over 4000 words of user comment generated on Autocar in response to an article about The Hybrid Debate
• Over 300 comments posted on the Oil Drum website in response to articles republished from The Hybrid Debate
• The Hybrid Debate has been picked up in over 600 blogs so far and a 25% uplift in blog buzz has been noticed (from .005% to .0075% - where the number equals the % of all blogs tracked).