BRANDEE DUDENHOEFEr
CONTENT DESIGNER | SILLY GOOSE
Bringing a fan-built Lexus to life in real time
How I turned audience insight and emerging tech into a first-of-its-kind live experience—putting Lexus fans in control of an RC build that earned Adweek’s Media Plan of the Year and Digiday’s Best Live Moment.
ROLE
Lead Copywriter
SCOPE
Creative concept · Social strategy · Live experience · Scriptwriting · Production
CHANNELS
Facebook · Facebook Live · Instagram
IMPACT
5.24M reach
8.36M impressions
57K+ interactions
The challenge
Give the stand-in a second shot
For Lexus’s 2017 Super Bowl commercial, Man and Machine, an RC was used as a stand-in for the new LC during production.
When filming wrapped, Lexus came to our team with an unusual brief: figure out what to do with the car.
The possibilities were wide open. We needed an idea that could turn a leftover production asset into something meaningful for the Lexus audience.
More than a leftover car
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An audience that wanted a say
Lexus had a passionate tuner and customization community, with strong opinions about how a car should look, sound, perform, and be built.
Our social work consistently showed that engagement climbed when we invited those opinions instead of simply broadcasting to fans.
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Participation already worked
Lexus had already experimented with participatory customization through #InstaBuilt, inviting Instagram users to help build an IS F SPORT through their comments.
We had evidence that giving enthusiasts a meaningful role in the build could turn product content into participation.
Live was just getting started
Facebook Live was emerging as a new way for brands and audiences to interact in real time.
We saw the potential to use live not simply as another broadcast channel, but as the experience itself—letting fans see their decisions become real as they happened.
They vote. We build. Live.
I came up with and pitched RC Real-Time, combining participatory customization with an emerging live platform to put the RC’s second act in the hands of Lexus fans.
Fans voted on modifications across the car’s suspension, exhaust, ride height, wrap color, wheels, tires, interior, and finishing details.
Then we took their winning configuration and built it during a 9.5-hour Facebook Live broadcast.
01 — VOTE
Put fans in the driver’s seat
Fans voted directly via social media comments on the modifications they wanted to see—from suspension and exhaust to wrap color, seats, wheels, tires, and aero styling.
Votes were tallied on-site and immediately fed into the build. Every vote changed the car they were watching being built.
02 — BUILD
Make decisions real
While the broadcast continued, installers and aftermarket partners transformed the RC around the audience's choices.
Parts, experts, production, and installation were coordinated in real time so the build could keep moving as new decisions were made.
03 — REPEAT
Turn a car build into a 9.5-hour show
The challenge wasn't simply broadcasting the build. It was creating enough interest to make audiences want to stay—and return for the next decision.
I designed the show's narrative rhythm through a 42-page production run of show, scripting voting segments and weaving together live hosting, supplier Q&As, progress reveals, interviews, countdowns and the next opportunity to vote.
That created a simple loop with real stakes:
Vote → decision → installation → vote again.
The result
5M+
People reached during the broadcast
8M+
Impressions during the broadcast
57K+
Comments, reactions + shares
04 — EXTEND
Take the build beyond the broadcast
The livestream ended. The story didn’t.
The finished RC became a physical artifact of the experience—a car built in real time by the Lexus community.
It went on to appear at the 2017 SEMA Auto Show, Cars & Coffee events, and across Lexus social, giving fans new opportunities to see the car they helped create and extending the activation well beyond its 9.5-hour broadcast.
