Lincoln Attempts to Use Daft Punk to Sell Gramps-Mobile

This post's title might make it seem like I'm trying to diminish the new Lincoln MKS. I'm not. Really, I'm not. It's just that after I watched the new MKS commercial featuring Daft Punk's Technologic, well I just couldn't sit around and say nothing.

I was cool with the Starship commercial. It didn't motivate me to buy a Lincoln, but I could see how the spot could raise awareness of the latest gadgetry that the brand has to offer. Heck, the Starship commercial influenced this guy enough to post his own video about it. Who knows, maybe in twenty years he can afford one (after he gets a decent webcam setup). However, this latest Daft Punk, "Leather-Wrapped Cyberspace" commercial is just way off base. Most Lincoln customers aren't going to get it and the commercial may in fact give them seizures. "Buy it, use it, break it, fix it, Trash it, change it, mail, upgrade it, Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it, Snap it, work it, quick erase it." Did they honestly think that is going to resound with a prospective Lincoln buyer? The MKS is many things, but it is not, nor never will be a car for hipsters. Why try to sell it to them?

What's worse about this commercial is that it highlights some less appealing attributes of the sedan, such as the crap instrument cluster that looks to be ripped out of a circa 1980's Ford. And what's with this nasty side profile? Ewww.

I've always viewed the MKS as a shout out to all the Lincoln Continental owners who felt abandoned after the brand axed the FWD sedan. The MKS is a perfectly modern interpretation of the Conti and who knows, maybe it'll even win over a few Town Car fans. That's all well and good. Perhaps if we think of the MKS as the meat, then a fun, competitive RWD sport sedan would be the pudding that we'll get later on.

Until such a time as Lincoln has "the pudding" to offer auto enthusiasts, may I suggest a different tactic for their ads to sell their meat? I would have a voice-over running with a more appropriate soundtrack that discussed some of the features of the car. For example, you could mention the car's chromium-free leather and recycled wood, attributes that a buyer in this class of car might be interested in knowing about. I think this would resound far better than an excellent, but inappropriate techno soundtrack with no explanation about what makes the MKS unique.

Update: Thanks for the pointer to the commercial!