McConaughey Ads Spike Lincoln Sales

2015 Lincoln MKC (Credit: Lincoln)

Everyone can laugh at the Lincoln ads starring Matthew McConaughey, because the brand is laughing all the way to the bank. In a result that is at least somewhat reminiscent of Dodge’s success by leveraging Ron Burgundy for a series of ads, Lincoln saw sales surge big time. In fact, the brand has reported that October of 2014 was the biggest October it has seen since 2007.

The abstract television spots starring McConaughey have been an easy target for the likes of Jim Carrey and Saturday Night Live, South Park, Ellen DeGeneres and even Conan O’Brien. In fact, Jim Carrey’s impression of the ads generated even more awareness of Lincoln, which ironically might have actually helped boost sales. Perhaps Lincoln should consider sponsoring Saturday Night Live sometime in the future.

The October 2014 total sales volume for Lincoln rose a dramatic 25 percent when compared to October of 2013. The leader of the sales pack was the MKC, which was featured in the McConaughey commercials. Coincidence?

The old saying that any publicity is good publicity obviously applied quite well for Lincoln. Even though people laughed as Jim Carrey pretending to methodically roll up a booger while driving around a city at night, at least some viewers were intrigued by the MKC and visited a Lincoln dealer to test it out and ultimately make a purchase. The video of the spoof commercial has racked up millions of views on YouTube, far outpacing the number of views for the original spot.

Of course, critics will argue that at this point it’s not hard for Lincoln to see success by doing literally anything, because the brand really can’t sink much lower.

Will this increased exposure and sales upswing help with the transformation process of Lincoln? If so, it’s a good start, but unfortunately that’s all it is.