Lexus once again took part in advertising’s biggest day of the year in the USA with a commercial that aired during TV coverage of the Super Bowl.
A car fit for kings, or the king for that matter, T’Challa from Black Panther displays his energetic and strong nature in the latest advertisement for America’s Super Bowl LII 2018.
The ad campaign is aptly titled “Long Live the King,” which seamlessly incorporates actual footage from the Black Panther movie and includes Letitia Wright who stars as T’Challa’s sister, Shuri. The full ad features many of the film’s actors, plus a cameo appearance by the Lexus LC luxury coupe.
In South Africa, Black Panther is 2018’s most anticipated movie and debuts on Friday, 16 February at most cinemas. With a strong representation of some of SA’s finest actors in major roles, the cast includes the great John Kani, his son Atandwa Kani and legendary actress Connie Chiume.
The special edit of the ad can be viewed here:
Long Live the King: High Performance and Power Meet
Long Live the King depicts how the character T’Challa, in his guise as Black Panther, goes about recovering a stolen batch of vibranium, a mythical ore found only in his home nation of Wakanda. At the same time, he is due to represent his country as its king at a world leadership conference. The Lexus LS 500 F Sport is the only vehicle both powerful and luxurious enough to keep pace with a superhero and provide suitable transport for a monarch.
“There is an authentic match between the duality of both the Black Panther and the LS,” says Cooper Ericksen, Lexus Vice President of Marketing. “The spot uses the Black Panther’s life as a superhero and as royalty to show the two sides of the LS: performance and luxury. Uniting the LS with Black Panther on advertising’s biggest stage was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.”
The soundtrack for the ad is Legend Has It, by Run the Jewels, from the Run the Jewels 3 album, which debuted at No1 in Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop chart for physical album releases.
“This spot feels beautifully cinematic from start to finish,” said Mindy Hamilton, Marvel’s Senior Vice President of Global Partnerships and Marketing. “With a character as important as Black Panther and a brand as iconic as Lexus, we knew that we had to rise to the occasion by creating something unforgettable. It’s a climactic moment for all of us as we come together to celebrate this wonderful collaboration and enjoy the big game.”
The Super Bowl spot is part of a robust collaboration between Lexus and Marvel Studios’ Black Panther. It includes the Black Panther-themed event at Comic-Con International: San Diego after-hours last July, and an original graphic novel created with Marvel Custom Solutions, Black Panther: Soul of a Machine, introduced at Comic-Con. The entire graphic novel is available to read now online.
This is the fourth time Lexus have appeared in the Super Bowl, following its 2017 ad Man and Machine, and spots during the 2015 and 2012 games.
