• by Karl Greenberg , December 2, 2015

The Lincoln Motor Company is has partnered with YouTube artists Sara Niemietz and Emmy-nominated composer Snuffy Walden to bring a live two-day music series to New York city Wednesday and Thursday this week. The performances are at Columbus Circle, Time Warner Center, and Gansevoort Plaza on the first day, and the Flatiron park and Rockefeller Center on Thursday.

Los Angeles-based Niemietz frequently collaborates with Walden, who is an Emmy multi-nominee and winner of 26 BMI Awards. She played a young Carol Burnett on Broadway in "Hollywood Arms," and has some 110,000 subscribers and 17 million views. 

Matt VanDyke, director of global Lincoln, who spoke with Marketing Daily at the L.A. Auto Show (where Lincoln revealed the 2016 MKZ sedan and showed the Continental concept) says new digital, grassroots and experiential efforts are part of a program to sustain the national brand message. “We are spending aggressively as a challenger brand,” he says, adding that the automaker has revamped its Web site to capture people who are interested in learning more about the brand and products, but aren't ready to initiate the build-and-price process. The upgrade includes a video series called “Product Truths” bundled together in a section thematically focused around around the human element of engineering, per VanDyke. The brand’s marketing and advertising is handled by New York-based Hudson Rouge. 

Stephane Cesareo, Lincoln's global communications manager, who helped put the program together, says Niemietz’s story, creative process and music are also supporting the reveal of the 2017 Lincoln MKZ on Lincoln Now (www.now.lincoln.com). "Sara’s popularity stems from the way she often reimagines the old and the new in her YouTube performances and original music," he says. 

The site is a storytelling platform that delves into the oeuvre of artisans, makers and craftspeople that Lincoln partners with in music, art, design, fashion, cuisine and engineering. Cesareo says that, in addition to the New York City performances, Niemietz performed at the Lincoln press conference at the Los Angeles Auto Show. She also performs Thursday night at the company’s exclusive holiday reception in New York City.

Lincoln is also one of the presenting sponsors of Vanity Fair Social Club at Art Basel this week. Cesareo says Lincoln will have a "Sound of Luxury" experience for attendees to experience the Revel audio system in the new MKX. A social component encourages people to share the experience through social media channels, using Lincoln MKX launch hashtag #TheFeelingStays.

The brand is also attempting to set itself apart from the luxury competition by taking a humanity to all marketing elements, reflected in advertising that focuses on character development as much as the vehicles, says VanDyke. “We can stand apart by being really warm and ‘human.’ Because, when we look at the competitive landscape, the advertising tends to be a bit colder, with purist-oriented messaging; lots of aggressive performance footage, cars on the road, and on the track. Since we are developing cars that have a different product intent, the advertising has to behave differently, but do that consistently.”

Lincoln has also been a sponsor of the Tribeca Film Festival for the past two years, which VanDyke says shows the the brand's efforts to reach people who may not have Lincoln on their radar. “It reaches the right kind of audience for us.”

VanDyke says 2015 will be a strong year for the brand, and that last year-- during which the industry was up 8% -- Lincoln sales improved 16%. But the challenge is to outpace the industry, grow share on both coasts, and get younger buyers. He asserts that Lincoln is achieving the latter, as the average age -- about 67 in 2008 -- is now 58. “The average age in the category is about 54, so we are a bit on the higher edge of that, but it demonstrates that we have a completely new demographic.” 

Sales in California of Lincoln vehicles has doubled in the past five years, per VanDyke, who says the brand remains strongest in the Midwest and central region of the country down to Texas. “Our  opportunity is to gain gain share on the coasts with new products and getting back on the radar with marketing and advertising for vehicles like the MKC, MKZ, and MKX.”