Lincoln – Mercury

In 1998, Lincoln was enjoying a brand resurgence with the success of one of the first luxury SUVs, the Lincoln Navigator. In order to hone their marketing efforts towards their prime prospects, a series of focus groups were conducted by ad agency Young & Rubicam, Lincoln’s Agency of Record (Y&R).

These focus groups indicated that the the number one leisure activity of those consumers most likely to purchase a Lincoln was gardening.

Scott Marticke, then VP-Southeast for Y&R for the Lincoln-Mercury account called Ventura & Company to discuss engagement marketing that would take advantage of the gardening aspect in the potential Lincoln buyer’s behavior. Atlanta was chosen as the target market and a budget well into six figures was available for the right opportunity.

Ventura & Company created a co-branding opportunity with Atlanta-based Pike’s Nurseries, the market leader in the home-gardening category. Pike’s was in the midst of a multi-media campaign called “Play in the Dirt” and had achieved high consumer awareness with it.

We devised a plan that included four one-month promotion periods, keyed to high traffic seasons in the more than 35 Atlanta area Pike’s stores. Major emphasis was placed on the spring and fall planting season as well as the Christmas season and Valentine’s Day (Pike’s had ventured into the cut flower business).

Ventura brought in market-leading WSB-TV as the exclusive media partner. Working with WSB-TV’s production team, a series of custom :30 and :60 commercials featuring Lincoln vehicles were shot on location at Pike’s stores. Display of Lincoln vehicles were staged in each of the Pike’s retail stores. Pike’s gardening professionals provided seasonal landscaping services at all Atlanta area Lincoln-Mercury dealers with appropriate signage. Pike’s Nurseuries Gift Certificates ranginbg from $50 to $100 were offered as premiums for consumers to take a test drive in a new Lincoln vehicle.

“The Pike’s promotion exceeded our wildest dreams! For the year, Atlanta area Lincoln dealers beat their sales goals by 11%. During the key spring gardening season, some dealers showed sales increases of more than 20%. Althou we (Young & Rubicam) are one of the largest advertising agencies in the world, we do not have the local and regional market knowledge or the promotional ability of a great partner like Ventura & Company. We gave them a challenge and they over-delivered, were on budget and never missed a deadline”

– Scott Marticke, VP, Young & Rubicam