Marketing
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Move over Matthew McConaughey. Lincoln has another face, and more specifically, it's for the new Navigator. Ford's luxury marque launched a new online social media campaign with tennis champion Serena Williams on Thursday. The announcement doesn't claim Williams will oust McConaughey, but she will be a new face for various online and social media content. The brand said Williams exemplifies many traits the SUV and Navigator customers cater to, specifically, balancing multiple portions of work, family life, and recreation. ALSO SEE: 9 things you need to know about the 2018 Lincoln Navigator...
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Scott Pruett becomes Lexus brand ambassador
Scott Pruett, the 57-year-old hall-of-fame racer, will retire from motorsports this month, but he'll have a new gig with Lexus. Toyota's luxury brand announced on Friday that the racer will become its brand ambassador and will also assist with product testing and development. Pruett's final race...
Sean Szymkowski -
Lincoln Gets Its Own Scent, And We're Not Talking New Car Smell
Essence of Lincoln is a new scent that Lincoln hopes will make customers remember its cars.
Stephen Edelstein -
MINI Sets Off On An Expedition For The Record Books
MINI, it seems, is going to great lengths to stay in the public eye these days. YouTube is filled with videos showing MINI in increasingly-odd and vaguely-disturbing scenarios, such as its “Not Normal” series. If there’s a point in showing a guy dancing in a bear costume, or a...
Kurt Ernst -
Cadillac Hires Lobbyist As New Global Boss, Ponders New Models
Robert E. Ferguson, GM’s vice president for global public policy and a former AT&T executive, has been appointed to the newly-created position of vice president, Cadillac global. Ferguson will report directly to GM’s chairman and CEO, Dan Akerson. As he transitions into the role...
Kurt Ernst -
Lincoln Hoping To Lure 'Cultural Progressives' With The 2013 MKZ
At a time when most automakers are going to extraordinary lengths to target Millennial buyers, luxury brand Lincoln is betting its fortunes on an entirely different demographic, one it’s calling “cultural progressives.” Per Lincoln’s own research, cultural progressives are...
Kurt Ernst -
Ford's the company that wants to be known for doing things differently. One strategy is getting fans involved and letting their voices be heard; and that's just what it did with the first commercial for the new 2013 Focus ST hot hatch. The entire commercial uses footage shot by fans. The first commercial for the 2013 Focus ST is set to go live on television channels nationwide soon, but first Ford wanted to give the online community the chance to view it. The commercial shows X Games rally gold medalist Tanner Foust racing stunt driver Greg Tracy through the streets of Key West, Florida. What...
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Mercedes-Benz And Ducati Strengthen Partnership At Bologna Motor Show
Mercedes-Benz and Ducati are building on the cooperative agreement set up between the brands at last year's Los Angeles Auto Show.
Kurt Ernst -
Can Virtual Test Drives Produce Real World Sales?
Ford was an early adopter of promoting its products through video games and driving simulators, and it believes this strategy has boosted brand awareness and brand consideration.
Kurt Ernst -
iPhone 4S Hitches Its Wagon To The 2012 Nissan Leaf
As everyone knows by now, Apple did not launch the iPhone 5 at yesterday's press event. This was bad news for Apple (shares slid after the meet-up), bad news for iOS developers (iOS handsets have recently been losing ground to Android), and bad news for Apple's new CEO Tim Cook (who should've been...
Richard Read -
2011 Toyota Corolla Fans Love Virtual Pop Star Hatsune Miku
If you've never heard of pop star Hatsune Miku, don't worry. Most of her work is in Japanese. And she's only four years old. And of course, she's not real. Miku is a virtual celebrity, created in 2007 as part of a music software package called Vocaloid. (Basically, she's apotheosis of AutoTune: a...
Richard Read -
Garmin Launches Cryptic Teaser Campaign, We Unravel It
Garmin has launched a new teaser campaign via email and Facebook, and because it's a slow news day, our crack team of marketing specialists has decided to take some guesses at what all the fuss is about. So far, it appears that Garmin's campaign has two components: an email containing an image that...
Richard Read -
If you've ever had a complaint or simply wanted to speak to the customer service department of a company using their phone service, you're no doubt aware of the frustration sitting through endless menus and electronic voices before finally getting through to the right department. For Nissan customers, this might be about to change. Nissan North America is considering moving some of its call center operators out of phone banks and onto the internet, using services such as Nissan's Facebook page to speak directly to customers. "Currently, our social media staff can handle the volume of...
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Break Free Of Traffic Jams With John Cleese & TomTom: Video
Everybody loves John Cleese, right? Beyond his work on the popular Monty Python and Fawlty Towers TV shows -- not to mention many memorable film appearances -- he's written for stage and screen, and he's managed to inject some much-needed humor into the political climate of both the U.S. and...
Richard Read -
Video: 2012 Range Rover Evoque Stars In 'Choose Your Own Adventure' Game
It's Friday, the sun is shining (well, mostly), and yet, there you sit, stuck in your cubicle, slaving away for The Man. Of course, we'd never encourage you to play hooky, but we can suggest a pretty good way to goof off and still look busy. It involves a new choose-your-own-adventure game designed...
Richard Read -
Video: New Ad For Thor Parodies Volkswagen (But Leaves Acura Out In The Cold)
Andy Warhol famously said that in the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes. Thanks to the heady combination of reality TV and the internet, he's been proven right. The culture of instant celebrity is both a blessing and a curse. On the curse side: Rebecca Black and Speidi (who may have...
Richard Read -
2012 Audi A7 Rolls Into Times Square The Only Way It Can: On A Billboard
Just two days before the 2011 New York Auto Show opens to the press, Audi has launched an eye-popping marketing campaign for its sleek, sophisticated 2012 A7. Today, the five-door coupe will roll straight into Times Square -- not literally, since cars are forbidden in the pedestrian center of town...
Richard Read -
Volvo Gives Baseball Fans Free MLB TV For The Month Of April
Paywalls are a hot topic in mainstream media right now, but they're nothing especially new. The Wall Street Journal, for example, has been hidden behind a paywall for years, as have hundreds of niche news outlets. On the whole, subscriptions to those sites haven't fared well. The New York Times --...
Richard Read -
Every so often, movie directors find themselves in a bind. Maybe their budgets get slashed. Maybe their scripts aren't quite as awesome as they first thought. Maybe they wake up and realize, "Holy crap, we cast VINCE VAUGHN." That's when they start scrambling, throwing everything they can at the project to make sure the film breaks even. Frequently on the menu? Car chases. Because, as Dodge demonstrates in its new tie-in trailer for Fast Five, car chases make movies better. Dodge has inked a major partnership with Universal Pictures for Fast Five, supplying 2010 and 2011 Dodge Chargers for...
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Video: Keira Knightley Shills Chanel While Straddling A Ducati
Et alors, qu'est-ce que c'est? Why, it appears to be actress, model, and object of Jeremy Clarkson's undying affection, Ms. Keira Knightley, perched atop a Ducati in Paris' Place de la Concorde. But you know, we're just guessing. At first glance, we thought Keira might be going through some sort of...
Richard Read -
Hyundai Returns As Exclusive Auto Sponsor Of The Academy Awards
In case you haven't been paying attention, this Sunday is the 83rd Academy Awards ceremony, and it promises to be, well...interesting. The organizers have hired two young hosts, one of whom still lives on the fringes of superstardom and neither of whom is a comedian. In a bid to draw back younger...
Richard Read -
Jennifer Aniston, The Accidental Honda Spokesmodel
Jennifer Aniston dropped by The View several days ago, and the interweb has been in a minor tizzy every since. Not because of anything she said, of course; Aniston isnt' exactly the kind to raise eyebrows with wacko pronouncements. (You want that, you book Jennifer Love Hewitt. Even better...
Richard Read -
Video: 2012 Lexus LFA Meets Dutch Supermodel In Sports Illustrated Photo Shoot
The 2012 Lexus LFA is certainly one car that’s not hard to notice. However, combine it with a supermodel wearing nothing but a skimpy swimsuit and you’ll pretty much have everyone’s attention--well, maybe just half of everyone’s attention. That’s exactly what appears...
Viknesh Vijayenthiran -
Lexus Dumps The Dark Side, Sponsors Charity Race With Baron Davis & The CT 200h
First Kylie Minogue comes onboard as a spokesperson for the Lexus CT 200h, and now point guard for the LA Clippers, Baron Davis, is hosting a charity race in the luxury hybrid? It looks like Lexus may have finally dumped that "Dark Side of Green" campaign. Cue the sighs of relief. Davis' event is...
Richard Read