100 Miles x lexus

THE ASK

Extend the launch of Lexus' all-electric RZ by creating a social-first cultural moment that honors Miles Davis' centennial and resonate with younger audiences.

The challenge wasn’t awareness. It was relevance. Because younger audiences don’t need another brand attaching itself to culture. They want brands to contribute to it

So instead of sponsoring a cultural moment, Lexus set out to create one.

The brief wasn't to "launch a car." It was: use the vehicle launch to prove that an automotive brand can show up in culture with genuine credibility. Not as a sponsor or a logo slap, but as tasteful collaborator in the work itself.

The Insight

Reinvention is the highest form of respect.

Miles Davis never treated jazz as something to preserve. He treated it as something to push forward. Every era of his career challenged the last one. Not because he rejected the music, but because he respected it too much to let it stand still.

That same philosophy shaped the Lexus RZ. Lexus wasn’t simply making an electric vehicle. They were rethinking what an EV could feel like emotionally, sensorially, and culturally.

The connection between Miles and Lexus wasn’t stylistic. It was philosophical. Both believed progress requires the courage to reinterpret what already exists.

The IDEA

Lexus x 100 Miles: Driving the Past into the Future.

To celebrate Miles Davis’ centennial, Lexus partnered with Laufey to reinterpret Miles Davis’ iconic Blue in Green for a new generation.

Laufey transformed the instrumental jazz classic into a new Amazon Music Original with original lyrics, a modern arrangement, and a live global debut on Twitch.

At the center of the campaign was the one-of-one “Blue in Green” Edition Lexus RZ — a custom vehicle inspired by the emotion, movement, and color palette of the song itself.

Together, the music and vehicle became expressions of the same idea: honoring the past by moving it forward.

CAMPAIGN ROLL-OUT

The campaign launched as a connected ecosystem across Amazon platforms, live experiences, streaming, and social.

• Amazon Music Original: The reimagined version of Blue in Green launched exclusively on Amazon Music, positioning the platform as a place where new culture is created — not just distributed.

• Live Twitch Performance: Laufey debuted the song live on Twitch to a global audience, turning one of the internet’s most participatory platforms into a live stage for jazz. Fans responded in real time with thousands of comments, reactions, and nearly 5,000 emojis during the performance.

• Blue in Green Edition Lexus RZ: Lexus unveiled a one-of-one custom RZ inspired by the song and Miles Davis’ legacy. The vehicle featured color-shifting blue-green paint, velvet-inspired interior detailing, and cinematic lighting treatments that changed depending on movement and light — reinforcing the campaign’s theme of transformation.

• Interactive Digital Experience: A custom landing page and Fire TV experience allowed audiences to explore the campaign world, discover behind-the-scenes content, and create their own personalized interpretations of Blue in Green through an interactive music configurator. Rather than simply watch the campaign, audiences could participate in it.

ART DIRECTION

Modern Jazz, Timeless Soul.

The visual approach reimagined 1960s jazz through a modern editorial lens — treating familiar references as something to be rediscovered, not replicated.

Composition avoids the expected: cropped views, partial figures, reflections, and off-center perspectives reshape familiar subjects so the viewer looks again. Each image feels observed rather than staged — suspended between restraint and expression. The palette uses jewel tones — emerald, sapphire, burgundy wine, midnight — grounded by neutrals soft enough to feel cinematic and human. Deep blacks that never crush. Highlights that roll off softly. Natural grain and surface texture that give each frame air, weight, and touch. Nothing over-smoothed or artificially clean.

DESIGN Direction

Iconic retro soul collides with modern cultural taste.

The design approach sits between two eras. Warm, vintage softness — earthy tones, soft grain, tactile gradients — paired with sharp, contemporary structure. Typography mixes classic serifs and expressive scripts with clean sans-serifs and mono. The palette pulls from jazz-club hues and the shifting paint of the car itself: deep blues, greens, and warm brass. Motion is slow and intentional. Nothing snaps — everything glides, mirroring the RZ's torque. The experience unfolds in layers: textures gather, colors bloom, details emerge as users move deeper.