• by Tanya Gazdik , August 23, 2023

Ford Motor Co.’s Lincoln division will use the Instagram account of one of its longtime celebrity ambassadors for the first time to launch a spot rather than a traditional media buy.

Tennis icon and global businesswoman Serena Williams teased the spot on Instagram on Tuesday with a still image and the caption “Me and Jelly Bean #BTS shooting a spot with @lincoln. Feeling serene in that summer light. Full video dropping soon.”

Coincidentally, the star just gave birth to her second child, daughter Adira River Ohanian, which she announced in a followup post Tuesday. Her husband Alexis Ohanian had posted the same birth announcement earlier in the day. 

Williams will post the full 48-second spot to her Instagram account -- which is followed by 16.9 million people -- on Wednesday morning. Lincoln won’t share it on the automaker’s social account until next week, and paid media doesn’t begin until after the Labor Day holiday.

The effort is part of the “genuine partnership” the automaker has with Williams, which dates back to 2018, says Megan McKenzie, head of U.S. marketing and communications at Lincoln. 

“I think what's special about Serena, she's not only a longtime driver of Navigator and Lincolns, but she's just been a great brand ambassador for us because there's a lot of shared values between the way that we see time in a vehicle,” McKenzie tells Marketing Daily.  Williams shows how a vehicle “can provide you with that kind of sanctuary, [where you]  just frame yourself up and recollect your thoughts.”

The work should reflect the celebrity spokesperson, says Jon Pearce, global chief creative officer at Hudson Rouge, Lincoln’s AOR.

Williams and Lincoln’s other celebrity spokesperson, Matthew McConaughey, complement each other, both McKenzie and Pearce agree.

“Just as Matthew’s gone through changes, Serena's gone through some major ones, retiring from tennis, expecting her second child, embarking on different business opportunities and continuing with charities,” Pearce says.  “You know, she is a GOAT who is evolving into the next chapter of her life.”

Adds McKenzie: “They love Lincoln. Lincoln's been a part of their lives and what they stand for in their lives. These are people who look for ways to create sanctuary and help others through kind of finding that peace and respite in your life -- I think that's a really important common bond that they share.

"But from a demographic perspective, they're both kind of complete opposites. So, I think it’s been a good thing for us and the brand to have both of them.”

While everyone is familiar with Williams on a tennis court, it’s interesting to take a different tack, Pearce says.

“She has relationships with multiple brands, and tennis has been an overriding theme in many of those spots and communications,” Pearce tells Marketing Daily. “It's what we know about her, right? And so I think we're always intrigued about, well, what don't we know about her? Or what sides are there to her that maybe people would want to see?”

The spot shows Williams remembering what it was like as a child to learn how to float, and the freeing feeling that it gave. Fast-forward to today with her driving the Lincoln Navigator and turning on the semi-autonomous BlueCruise system and enjoying the hands-free freedom that it brings.

BlueCruise is a new feature to most viewers. 

“If you haven't tried it, you might think it's a gadget or not for me,” Pearce says. “And we were trying to get at this feeling of sort of effortless freedom with it. And so this idea of floating in the ocean, you know, I think we can all remember back to it.”

The spot closes with a pregnant Williams shown standing on a beach. 

Although Williams has only been seen in the Navigator brand, she could easily be shown with a different Lincoln.

“This spot was originally intended to be captured in a different vehicle,” McKenzie says. “But just based on some timing and some challenges we had, we made a last-minute shift to put her in the Navigator.”

It works for portraying her as a mother and showing her as a pregnant woman.

“But I don't think there's any reason why we’ve only shown Serena in Navigators,” McKenzie says. “We would happily put her in a different vehicle if that was what we wanted to highlight at the time.”