• by Karl Greenberg , April 3, 2012

When it comes to selling cars and trucks, it's all about the product, right? Well, no, actually it isn't. In fact, in at least one respect the consumer auto business isn't all that different from the wedding cake business: obviously, the cake part has to be moist, spongy, firm, well-baked etc. But it's what you do with the frosting and filling that either makes it a memorable cake you bring home and eat later, or discretely trash. 

Ford's Lincoln division is focusing on the cake, frosting and filling over the next three years as it rolls out seven new or redesigned vehicles and a multi-point plan to create a personalized, premium dealership and ownership experience. 

Mark Fields and Jim Farley, Ford president of the Americas and group VP, global marketing, sales and service, respectively, held forth Monday on plans for the Ford luxury division at the Frank Gehry-designed Interactive Ad Bureau building on Manhattan's West Side. They said the program is feasible precisely because Lincoln is small. It's kind of a glass-half-full optimism about a brand that has struggled to be taken seriously as a luxury player in recent years, but Farley tells Marketing Daily that precisely because Lincoln is not a huge player, it can be treated as kind of a boutique luxury marque. 

"We want to use our size to our advantage to be a challenger, kind of like we did with the Ford brand," he says, adding that the dealership physical upgrades will be finishing up next year. "That's when all of this will really start coming together." 

At the Monday night event, the automaker unveiled the first of the new vehicles, the stunning MKZ. The car is the first progeny of the division's new design team, and a car whose look the Lincoln design director Max Wolff calls an expression of elegant simplicity that will define the brand’s look henceforth. "This car was designed to look like it can be sketched in just a few strokes," he said, adding that the new grill motif that will be fascia of Lincoln vehicles henceforth has a split-wing motif. There will be a hybrid version as well. 

Fields said the midsize premium segment is one of largest, fastest-growing segments of the luxury car market. "It will grow 20% by 2015," he said. "It's also one of the first segments consumers new to the segment buy into." That, he said, is why MKZ is so critical. "If we win them into the brand with MKZ, it will provide an opportunity to keep them in the brand." 

On the frosting side, Lincoln is launching a series of customer service programs ranging from high-tech online video concierges to old fashioned concierge-style service at dealerships. Farley, who said the automaker has signed up about 75% of its key dealers to commit to a facilities upgrade program this year, with over half of dealers in top luxury markets signing on, delineated the programs. But he said the physical look of the dealerships is less important than what happens inside. 

To that end, the automaker is introducing a dealership training program called "Lincoln Academy," designed to imbue dealers and sales staff with a Fifth Avenue-boutique sensibility. "What makes this different is that it doesn't happen in some classroom somewhere," said Farley. "It will take place in the dealership. We will get commitments from dealership leaders to allow us to do this.” 

An unusual aspect of this program is that it is being developed through a partnership with Les Clefs D'or, the international organization of premium-hotel concierges. Farley said these "cultural ambassadors" from outside the automotive business will help Lincoln develop benchmarks and program elements. 

Farley explained to Marketing Daily that Les Clefs D'or, which have never worked with an automaker before, made sense as a an outside consultant. "I have been challenging our team for a year now on how do we get serious about personalized luxury. The concierge model is the one we want to go after: it's very customized, not 'take a number, but, oh, we have a waiting lounge and a cappuccino machine.' But very specific and unique," he says. "[Clefs d'Or] is the standard so we knew we had to talk to them. They are certifying all of our training programs, helping us develop the training curriculum; they are the center point of all training."

The auto brand is also rolling out a range of digital programs to extend customer service in a space where, per Farley, 80% of luxury intenders do most of their shopping and spend something like eight hours researching products before buying them. On deck is a 24/7 digital concierge service. This program, which is in development, is a Skype-type face-to-face consultant who can be invoked on Lincoln's web site. The concierge can pull up information about competitive vehicles, pricing, customizing and the like on the user’s page. Farley says that customers can save and access their portfolio information from laptops, iPads or smartphones.  Lincoln is also launching a new dealer showroom application for iPad for sales associates to use to elucidate the sales process with customers. 

Lincoln is also considering a host of dealership services meant to make the experience more personal and more evocative of the larger brand experience. Farley said that the company might, for example, elaborate on the traditional dealership test drive with a "Lincoln Date," where taking a car for a test drive includes dinner for two, on Lincoln. "It's a great way to eliminate the friction that can happen at dealerships," he said. 

Dealership-based CRM programs are also in the offing. Once a person buys a vehicle, he or she can get home or work visits by Lincoln techies who will help the new owner grasp the intricacies of such vehicle functions as telematics, navigation, and entertainment. Farley said Lincoln might also try to create an ongoing anniversary program for owners. "Why not celebrate the first, second, third or even fourth anniversary of the ownership of the car?" He said that could entail things like a free detailing of the car, new floor mats or wiper blades on Lincoln, "or maybe something more personal." 

Said Fields, "We are taking this wonderful brand and reinventing it in the 21st century as a true world class luxury brand with both compelling products and really personalized ownership experience. That's where we are taking Lincoln long term."