Lincoln is hoping a new series of ads featuring actor Matthew McConaughey will raise the company's profile and boost sales.
That easy-going twang Americans have heard telling us that beef is what’s for dinner is now hitting the road with Lincoln. Actor Matthew McConaughey inked a multi-year deal to lead a new ad campaign for the struggling luxury brand.
The Texas-born actor known for his good looks and physique leads a new style of advertising for Ford’s luxury unit that focuses on his folksy storytelling style about Lincoln’s attributes. The first set of ads features the new 2015 Lincoln MKC small crossover.
“Authenticity is a word that kept coming up in our initial meetings. It was clear from the start they appreciated me as an individual first and foremost, and I would be able to be myself in this collaboration,” said McConaughey in a statement.
“Lincoln is an iconic, American brand and I like where they are heading with their transformation. I had the chance to drive the new MKC around Texas and I think they’re doing a good job.”
The MKC is the first product in the brand's new ad campaign featuring Matthew McConaughey.
Lincoln and director Nicolas Winding Refn, who directed the movie “Drive” featuring Ryan Gosling as a stunt driver who doubles as a getaway driver, created a storyline for him around the MKC. In the spots, McConaughey invites viewers to experience the vehicle through unscripted moments in the commercial, according to the automaker.
“Matthew is the ideal personality to help us tell this story, and it is only the beginning of what we trust will be a fantastic relationship,” said Matt VanDyke, director, global Lincoln.
The 44-year-old actor has a history with Lincoln. He starred in the movie the “Lincoln Lawyer,” where he portrayed a Los Angeles lawyer, who works out of the back of Lincoln Town Car.
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Inking the deal with McConaughey is nearly a 180-degree turn from the rumored push by former Ford CEO Alan Mulally to kill the brand as recently as a year ago. However, Mark Fields, then second-in-command and now CEO, convinced Mulally it was viable.
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Fields must believe in it because one of his first acts as CEO in July was to juggle the leadership of the brand, replacing marketing wizard Jim Farley, who was splitting time between running all of Lincoln and Ford’s global marketing efforts, with Kumar Galhotra, who had been vice president of engineering, as head of Lincoln.
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This change showed Fields was “serious about Lincoln as a world-class luxury brand and that product excellence and innovation are what will deliver growth and define our entire company going forward,” he said, who, following his appointment as CEO, emphasized he did not intend to tear up Ford’s leadership structure.