**1975 Lincoln Continental** Town Coupe on 2040-cars

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Lincoln needs a farewell address, not a new marketing plan

The trouble with Ford's Lincoln brand is that no one cares about it any more.
Not long after I heard that Mark LaNeve, chief operating officer of Ford agency Team Detroit, was moving to take over direct operations of the New York ad agency Hudson Rouge for Lincoln, I heard that JCPenney CEO Ron Johnson was ousted. The two events are connected.

Matthew McConaughey dusts off his Lincoln Lawyer jacket [w/videos]

Alright, alright, alright. Easygoing Texan Matthew McConaughey has enjoyed a career renaissance recently with critically acclaimed roles in Dallas Buyers Club and True Detective, and the actor has just signed a multi-year deal with Lincoln to become the luxury brand's spokesperson. The first ads starring McConaughey should hit televisions and the internet soon.
McConaughey's campaign has his pitching starting out with the company's pivotal new 2015 Lincoln MKC compact crossover. "Lincoln is an iconic, American brand and I like where they are heading with their transformation," he said in the announcement of the deal. The appears to be really throwing some money into these ads, too. Not only has it hired A-list talent in front of the camera, Nicolas Winding Refn, best known for Drive, is directing the spots.
Of course, this won't be McConaughey's first noteworthy ride in a Lincoln. Back in 2011, he starred in The Lincoln Lawyer, a legal thriller about at attorney would did business out of a 1980s Town Car. The MKC should certainly prove to be a much better driver than that.

Lincoln prepping MKZ re-launch?

Launching an all-new car is no easy task. Case in point is the 2013 Lincoln MKZ, introduced with the fanfare of a major nationwide marketing campaign, including expensive Super Bowl ads, just as Ford was curbing production over potential quality issues. The resulting mess was nothing short of a nightmare for any automaker - customers visiting dealerships looking for cars that hadn't been delivered yet. Disappointed buyers walked out of Lincoln retailers without new keys in their hands, or switched to a competing brand to fill empty spaces in their driveways.
The impact was painful, as Lincoln's sales in January and February of this year were among the lowest it has recorded in more than a quarter century. Even though March looked a bit brighter, with the supply crisis reportedly over (there are 3,000 units in transit and production is approaching 200 units per day) the automaker is reportedly studying the feasibility of giving its pivotal MKZ the launch it originally deserved.
According to TheDetroitBureau.com, putting the MKZ back on consumer's radar could cost Ford tens of millions of dollars, but that kind of investment may be warranted if potential buyers have forgotten about the new model... or worse, if they have forgotten about Lincoln.