Lincoln Will Take You On A Date, Hopes To Get To Second Base
Ford wants to rekindle old flames and hopefully find new beaus and babes for its geriatric Lincoln brand. One item to make hearts beat quicker will be a retractable 15-square-foot moon roof, a must have for lover’s lane. If that’s not enough to entice buyers to a little make out (of a check,) Lincoln will invite them on a real date.
The moon roof will be the main attraction of the 2013 Lincoln MKZ sedan, which will start to swoon buyers at the New York Auto Show.
According to Reuters, Ford is considering initiatives like “the Lincoln date night.” Said Ford’s head of global marketing, Jim Farley:
“To reward you for sampling the brand, we’d like to take you out to dinner, on Lincoln. It’s a great way to eliminate that friction that so many conquest customers will have.”
Hmmm. When I was young, we were after a little friction on date nights. But then, with the average Lincoln buyer being 65, less friction probably is a good idea.
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
More by Bertel Schmitt
Comments
Join the conversation
Hey. Its a tough sell out there for Lincoln. Let them try this. Considering the price of the purchase, offering a dinner to prospective customer is worth it. We talk about exceeding expectations within the buying experience. This could be something that will help. I wouldn't be interested, yet, we cannot simply dismiss it. Hope it works for them. That brand needs a lot of help.
Dinner *where*? That's the big question here. Where you get to eat "on Lincoln" says a lot about who Lincoln thinks their customers are. The "friction" that I suspect most potential conquest buyers have is that they are buying a tarted up Ford with extra silver plastic trim. TL and ES buyers don't have that friction because I suspect most of them don't know what's under the expensive skin of their cars. If you buy a MKZ or a MKS, you know. Ford still doesn't seemed to have learned Infiniti's lesson with the I30. Trying to sell a lux brand car that is little more than a clone with slightly altered sheet metal doesn't work. Electronics also play a big part of the luxury game, and Ford hasn't learned this either. Ever notice how Toyota and Lexus or the VW and Audi products that share platforms DON'T share NAV systems? It's more expensive to do it that way, but there's sound reasoning behind it. If MyLincoln Touch is just MFT with Ford crossed out and Lincoln written in, well that takes away yet another reason to buy the Lincoln at all, doesn't it?
Why does the whole roof have to slide back for an opening no larger than a conventional moonroof? Seems unnecessarily complex to me: http://img2.netcarshow.com/Lincoln-MKZ_2013_800x600_wallpaper_10.jpg When your moonroof breaks, you buy a new moonroof. When this breaks, you have to buy a new ROOF.
At the Minneapolis auto show, the Lincoln dealer was offering $50 to come take a test drive. I'm guessing that's turned into a $50 gift card to a local restaurant.