Last week, or something, I was invited to take a Lexus Advisory Board Survey. The survey asked a bunch of multiple choice questions about marketing stuff, like what type of people do I admire most and brand perception. It was so steeped in marketing gibberish and personal questions that: a. I honestly did not know how to answer the questions and b. got fed up and just quit the survey mid-stream.

Figured that the was the end of the LAB for me.

But a couple days ago, I got invited to another survey and this one was much, much better - the sort of thing I would expect to be in a survey. It was actually about the car. What did I like and not. How do I rate the engine, transmission, etc. They even also asked about the surveys.

The invitation to the survey said:
"We would like to extend an opportunity for you to provide us with feedback on your vehicle. In this study, you can describe in your own words what you most like about you vehicle and what can be improved, in addition to suggesting some changes that you would like implemented.

Because the vehicle itself is only a part of the ownership experience, in the future we will address questions regarding the sales and service processes as well."

Much better. Thank you LAB.

I too received an "invitation" to a LAB as first described in Terry's post. It seemed to question just how emotive you are and how deep is your level of narcissism and envy. Pure crap as it appears to cater to the marketing end of the business. IIRC it was sponsored by the firm Morpace.

I also got the same vehicle satisfaction survey at LAB. Really great to see that the company cares to hear back about the vehicles directly, I know other surveys also exist.

Fly4u, I have no doubt that the initial survey (not this vehicle one) is intended to figure out what bucket you fall in under some sort of internal segmentation group.

And it says when you join LAB they state "Welcome to the Lexus Advisory Board. As a member of this exclusive group, your opinions help shape product development, customer service and the future of marketing communications. So please sign in to share your thoughts and ideas, and thank you for taking part in our pursuit of perfection."

So a lot can be about marketing communications.

I did this one recently

I can usually throw a complaint or two into some open text box (not all have them) but as you mentioned this one provided a better opportunity for input.

I also like how they wanted to know how frequently you would like to interact.

I asked for a way to dialogue directly with the folks responsible for elements of the car. I particularly want at the jack az who thinks the world revolves around mark levinson audio (irrelevant brand to me as the guy is long out of the company, give me Focal please).

I would also like an explanation on why they are so slow (no SC replacement, no torque vectoring AWD with a DSG tranny)

Why can't I order a car with no chrome exterior?

Who thought the spindle grill BS meant anything to anybody outside the company?

I look forward to a tech-oriented LAB survey; much to say both in praise and constructive criticism. As a first-time Lexus owner, they may not care much about my thoughts - but they should as the window to shop for a replacement opens every 3 years.

This consumer has some favorites but little brand-loyalty; the search begins anew with an open mind.

There's all sorts of LAB survey's covering everything. I just do them all

Maybe those of us buying the cars and like the spindle grill.

Okay Blueprint, please tell me your impression of why the spindle grill means something

I'm not sure what you mean by "means something" but I do believe they stated it was influenced by the Toyota spindles and history of a their weaving. Look I'm not head over heels with it either but I think after 2 decades Lexus figured out they need to be immediately recognizable through out the lineup, especially with a bunch of copy cat cars out there.

The sales figures are up and continue to climb here and internationally so consumers seem to be fine. I mean its not like other marques have had the same exact grill for decades, they all figured out their trademark face/grill over the years. Thus Lexus is no different in trying to find their identity.

Thanks Blueprint

An example of means something to me is a conventional Peterbilt or Kenworth tractor

When I see one of those big dogs rolling down the highway, I immediately recognize the design language and feel a connection to it

When I see the spindle grill I just laugh and say marketing hype, to fill a gap until the real cars start coming

Sure Lexus sales go up up, but the numbers are being padded with FWD fake luxury cars like the CT

But the CT accounts for a small amount of sales, maybe 5% of total sales here in the USA. In Europe its a big hit since that is a growing segment the Germans are in. Benz has more FWD cars coming as BMW and AUdi is a big FWD brand.

The "spindle" might be marketing but it is a way for Lexus to be distinctive and to show their "face", no different than BMW adopting Kidney grills etc. It isn't for everyone, I agree.

As a long time Lexus owner that had no issues with their styling I wasn't at first a big fan of the face but it grew on me and it gives a nice corporate identity. It also makes it very obvious when a brand copies. If it wasn't the "spindle" it surely would have been something else.

We all were not alive to see how the German marques started off and changed their grills for their corporate faces. We are witnessing a successful brand find itself.

As I noted in response to TerrySmith's last post here, LAB members should and probably do span the spectrum of Lexus owners. They're not all going to have the same interests and likes, so naturally we should also expect a wide spectrum of LAB survey topics.

In my opinion, those who choose not to respond to a LAB survey involving topics that lack interest to them when they have the chance to demonstrate to Lexus why those topics are unimportant, then they're just doing themselves a disservice.

The problem is (with all the LAB surveys I've taken except the most recent) that most of the multiple-choice questions do not allow you to demonstrate why the topic may be unimportant. When I take the surveys, I look hard for answers that communicate that. I've never seen a "this is not important to me" option on the multiple choice survey questions.

That's why I got so frustrated with one survey that the only way to communicate that the topics were unimportant was to just hang up (close the window) after 10 or 15 minutes of trying. Of course depending on the software, closing the survey mid-stream may not actually communicate anything other than I did not take the survey.

Porsche also recently asked me to take a similar survey that focused on the best advertising slogans to get me to buy a "luxury car." I wanted to tell them I don't look to Porsche for luxury - I look to them for fun to drive, reliable sports cars. The survey did not allow me to say that anywhere. The closest I could come was to say if I wanted a luxury car, I'd get a Lexus. What I really wanted to say is that if I wanted a luxury car, I'd get a Lexus and if I wanted a fun to drive, reliable sports car, I'd get a Porsche, but because of the restrictions in the questions I could not. I think they'll interpret my response as they need to make their cars more luxurious to compete with Lexus, not what I intended.

Anyway, the point is taking these surveys is often too restrictive to allow you to say: "I don't care about admirable traits of celebrities that will be in commercials, I care about admirable traits of the cars."

Again, the most recent LAB survey was much better in this respect.

As I see it (though not everyone may agree with me)..............the answer is staring those Lexus marketers right in the face. Just compare the average Lexus product in the late 1990s, side by side, with what they are producing today, and I think the areas where improvement is needed are obvious.

Now that doesn't necessarily mean that everything on the older Lexus models was better (non-black paint-jobs, today, for example, on typical Lexus vehicles today, approach absolute perfection, though the black sometimes has orange-peel). And the NuLuxe used by Lexus today, IMO, is as good or better than their real leather. But, to my senses at least, the average Lexus today lacks at least some of the build-solidness and riding-comfort of 10-15 years ago....there has been a noticeable downswing.

When I see the spindle grille, I think lululemon. I'm sorry, Lexus.