Just last week, Lincoln attempted to capitalize on Cadillac’s new Dare Greatly campaign: as one would expect, performing a Google web search for “Dare Greatly” displayed a Cadillac ad for the Dare Greatly campaign, as well as an ad for Lincoln that appeared immediately below Caddy’s ad. How did Lincoln accomplish this, and why?
Google search results for “Dare Greatly” on February 25, 2015
How
The how is relatively simple for those familiar with the web ads work on Google. Lincoln simply added the words Dare Greatly to the list of keywords for which it wants its ads to be shown. To note, each time someone clicks on the links in the “Ads” section of a Google search results page (as pictured above), the advertiser is charged on a per-click basis.
Why
But to us, the why is much more interesting. Our gut reaction tells us that Lincoln clearly tried to capitalize on the newfound interest in Cadillac and its Dare Greatly campaign. As such, we imagine that Ford’s luxury brand received at least some user traffic that was intended for Cadillac.
The GM Authority Take
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, as they say.
On a more serious note, we’d strongly encourage Lincoln to focus on building true luxury cars deserving of the luxury car moniker, rather then pushing warmed-over Fords. Because unlike Cadillac, every single Lincoln Motor Company (ahem, brand) on sale today is available within the Blue Oval lineup.
Comments
There are people actually searching for marketing slogans?
That, and more…
Ford best focus on great products like Lincoln’s of the past rather than gimmicks. Their present line up is mediocre at best.
….Caddy is a the welfare queen of luxury. “I’m bankrupt, I need taxpayer money. Help me!!” haha
Well we all know the how.
I agree with the why but I also believe it’s because Lincoln really has no real clear plan right now too. Lets face it Lincoln really lived years on selling town cars to fleets and old people and that was it. Now they are faced with stiffer competition from Hyundai, Lexus and others as Cadillac moves away from them.
Fords CEO went to an All Ford philosophy and while it worked great for Ford it has done nothing for Lincoln and at this point unless Ford decides to do more then just rehash Ford models as Lincolns they are facing a tough future.
I originally called this Jealousy is the sincerest form of flattery, But now I think it is Desperation and not Jealousy is not the true act in play here. Let face it with the CT6 coming Cadillac will have three cars that Lincoln would be happy if they just had one in the line up. The Cadillac SUV is selling tons better than the Lincoln one.
The fact is Lincoln was on the way out with Mercury till someone internally pointed out the profit potential of the division as Luxury divisions done right will make more money than any other car division. The ratio is 12% sales makes 50% of a companies auto profits. So low volume and money making is what they can do if handled right. Right now they need more than a reconstituted Taurus. Also the coming coupe based on the Mustang had be much more than a fancy Lincoln. Ford went to a Ford model to make a Lincoln on their new coupe while GM went from Chevy to Cadillac to make a Chevy coupe. The better cars trickle down not up.
I feel bad for the folks at Lincoln as they are being told to build Mt Rushmore but had been given nothing but nail clippers and a file to work with. To be honest they are in a much worse spot than Cadillac has been since 1986-87.
Well, duhh.
they need to worry more about their own than chase cadi
Lincoln can’t compete with cadillac with their own Buick-like vehicles LOL
Unfortunately Cadillacs condescension hasn’t translated into success sales wise. Tell me again, what components within the GM hierarchy are exclusive to Cadillac? Yea we can take shots at Lincoln all day, but all that signifies to me is that Cadillac and the fans of Cadillac are still very much uncomfortable with what the brand brings to the table relative to the industry.
Do you think the boys at Beemer sit around making jokes that the best Cadillac has to offer is a 4 door Camaro the plucked out of obscurity in Australia?
“Tell me again, what components within the GM hierarchy are exclusive to Cadillac?”
The LF3 TT 3.6 V-6, the Alpha architecture, soon the Omega architecture, CUE, the ThetaEpsilon architecture…
“Do you think the boys at Beemer sit around making jokes that the best Cadillac has to offer is a 4 door Camaro the plucked out of obscurity in Australia?”
Are you a retard? What does Cadillac sell that is a 4 door Camaro plucked from obscurity in Australia? Nothing!
The original CTS-V had its origins in Zeta…
Nope! The first and second gen CTS’s were built upon the Sigma platform, not Zeta. In fact, Zeta didn’t appear for another 4 years after Sigma debuted in the 2002 CTS.
Both the first and second gen CTS-V’s NEVER had their own bespoke platform; they two were built upon the Sigma platform.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GM_Sigma_platform
Where the hell are you getting all this wrong information anyway? Didn’t anyone tell you to do a cursory Wikipedia search beforehand?
It hasn’t translated to sales but it still takes time. Bmw never had floaty vehicles that Cadillac has before. Because I would assume people in Europe don’t believe the word floaty cars. And for Cadillac, it’s gonna take time to transform from floaty to sporty and they have done it for quite some time
There are no Cadillac’s built on Zeta. CTS and ATS are built on the American designed Alpha chassis and the CT6 is built on the American designed Omega chassis. Get your facts straight before you comment.
The original CTS V was the car they announced was going to put BMW on notice…which was based on Sigma…which was based on Zeta…
There was a 4 year gap (from 2002 to 2006) between the launch of Sigma and the launch of Zeta. The first gen CTS and the CTS-V were both built upon the Sigma platform, not Zeta. Even when the original CTS-V debuted in 2004, it was still 2 years before the first Zeta Commodore was launched.
Zeta debuted AFTER Sigma, and not the other way around as you contend.
Also 4 door camaro title belongs to Chevy ss not ats. Ats Is the one that started the alpha platform then camaro comes. So get your facts straight bro!
Cadillac is only in their early spring of their turn around. Their final decisions were just made last summer as to their new direction and to the extent of GM’s commitment into the future as to how autonomous Cadillac will be. There is still seed to sow and crops to raise here as like a farmer it’s not going to happen in one day and with one model.
GM started a half effort in the 90’s and continued it till they got bailed out. Now that they have the money it has take a few years to get a collective agreement internally to either go all in to support Cadillac as they should be or continue the economical Luxury route of Lincoln.
Nessuno you really need to sit down and study what really is going on and were Cadillac is really at. Today their cars are not rebadges of a Zeta. The fact is the Alpha is a pure Cadillac that will trickle down to a Camaro unlike how Ford is taking a Mustang and moving up to a Lincoln.
As for BMW I am not sure what they are doing but I do know there have been substantiated reports of Benz taking the new Cadillac’s and studying them. Even a year ago the head of Benz engineering has expressed great interest in the new CTSv as he stated he expected it to be a real performance competitor.
The fact is BMW and Benz both know Cadillac and GM has the technology and the funds to compete with the and even beat them. It is not so much the Germans have beaten Cadillac as it has been GM’s lack of effort to support Cadillac as it should have been supported. That has changed and it will take about 5 years but you will see more and more with each model that will separate Cadillac from the other GM division. Engines and other systems will be of their own design and only found in their cars.
Case in point GM just several years ago in the CT6 development had a fight over the cost of the door handles. Mark Reuss was fighting to get a higher quality door handle that cost a little more while some inside GM fought him tooth and nail to use a cheaper handle. Mark pointed out that this is the first thing someone touches on the car and it needs to be of quality that one would expect but others felt if it opened the door what else could you ask of it?
The folks who fought mark lost out last summer and the people who were not the problem are in now. Germany knows this and they are watching and they will prepare to answer the challenges they know are coming.
Cadillac is much like General Patton. If you hold him up and do not give him what he needed he did not take much ground. But give him the troops and tanks needed he took G.D. Germany as he would say. The point is GM just finally has give Cadillac what it needs to compete. We will see the full commitment in the coming years in steps with each and every model through 2020.
It would be funny if they did a Patton limited edition future CTS and sent it to Berlin. LOL!
As for those uncomfortable with Cadillac that have been fans either have to adapt or leave. The fact is Cadillac will fail if they continue as they have.
It was not all that long ago that BMW really had little to offer in the 60’s and most were high maintenance rust buckets much like Audi too.
The BMW 2002 was the first model that really did anything here but they were expensive to fix, not luxury car and most of them rotted out. It took a decade of more for the 3 Series to come and really put them on the map with a better car that had a good marketing plan.
If Lincoln decides to step it up they have a few resourceful things to borrow from Ford. DOHC V8 technology, and one of the best marketing teams.
There is no question Ford could bring back Lincoln but the will to bring them back has been lacking. Ford is right now just getting to where GM was in the 90’s with the first N Star Seville’s and but have yet to show the will to fund and invest into Lincoln to make them what they could be. GM dithered at that stage for years before they showed some action and only last year summer show full commitment financially.
In this segment Ford has to go all in like GM as even their marketing as good as it is can not carry them across the line this time. You can fool a lot of brand loyal truck buyers but someone spending 100K and you are trying to lure them from another brand is a different story.
Please tell me you weren’t comparing Cadillacs northstar to the Mod motor? Especially the coyote. I think I’m just reading it wrong. The only reason this article was posted, is because of the high traffic the last lincoln post generated. Anytime, anything Ford is mentioned on this site it get 20+ Comments and lots of traffic. Sneaky sneaky GM authority…
No I was not comparing the two engines though the Mod engine is not as good as it needs to be for Lincoln either. Great for Ford but they need more if they want to compete with a better Lincoln. If it is found in a pick up truck it need not be in a Luxury car.
My comparison of Lincoln to Cadillac in the 90’s is they are using FWD platforms from Ford that are using Ford bits. the New Lincoln even gone over is still just a Taurus. If they want to really make Lincoln real luxury again they need to invest in them like GM has and do their own engines and limit their platforms to them and only a rare few other Ford models.
Also Ford needs to make these platform Lincolns first and then Ford second. You get a much better car that way You can dumb down a platform but you can’t dumb one up as well.
Not saying Lincoln is going to turn things around, I don’t care if they do. A lot of the things you say are right. But don’t put down the mod motor, there not all the same. And it’s not like I said take the F-150 engine and change nothing and drop it in. Just saying they have a lot of experience with ohc V8s. If it’s good enough to rework and put into a koenigsegg, then I think they could work in a Lincoln.