Oscar viewers who are seeking on Google the Cadillac that “dared greatly” are suddenly hearing Matthew McConaughey’s voice, thanks to Lincoln’s SEO skills.
Autoblog reports the first instance of Lincoln’s slogan hijacking appeared less than 24 hours after Cadillac’s “Dare Greatly” adverts aired during the 87th Academy Awards. As seen above, those wanting to know more about Cadillac — and about that mysterious car making a brief appearance in a separate Oscars advert — will find a sponsored link for the brand at the top, followed by Lincoln’s version of the truth in second.
Originally, the second sponsored link — which read, “Dare Greatly – It’s not about making a statement, it’s about doing what you love” — directed consumers to Lincoln’s homepage, greeting them with the sight of the 2015 MKZ Hybrid. Since then, the link directs to the same page, but the image is that of the 2015 MKC. The link’s slogan, meanwhile, changes with every search; for this author, it currently reads, “You don’t have to make a statement when you know who you are,” likely a swipe at brand president Johan de Nysschen’s and brand director Melody Lee’s ambitions and aspirations for Cadillac.
As for the Oscars campaign, AutoTrader said that searches for Cadillac jumped 53 percent within an hour after the first advert aired.
Poor Lincoln. Even when they can get your attention, they’ve got nothing better to show you than the MKZ and MKC.
**ATTENTION**
Met up with my car guy tonight and was informed that Cadillac is blowing out new 2014 CTSs for nearly 20k off MSRP.
Whatever the trim level is for the 2.0T 57k MSRP CTS – Novi Cadillac sold two dozen this last week for 38k.
I still wouldn’t buy one due to the unrefined motor, awful gauges (from a 1990s era Pontiac), tight rear seat, CUE, lack of reliability, awful customer service, and myriad of other issues, but if you like the CTS (or can tolerate it), and are willing to spend 38k on a POS Cadillac, now’s the time to waste your money.
I’d rather have a dozen other vehicles, some for as little as 21k new, than even a 40% off sticker CTS.
Relax…
http://jordanrosenfeld.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/keep-calm-and-dare-greatly.png
Didn’t you ever hear that you are supposed to explain an unusual acronym when it appears for the first time? Please translate “SEO” for those of us who don’t spend all our time vacuuming up the latest computer-weenie jargon.
Honestly when I read it I basically said screw it and read on.
Secret Empire Organization, shhh, don’t tell anyone
Optimization, not Organization
I know, but it’s a secret
“Search Engine Optimization”
So, what does it mean?
In this case it means that you have paid Google to show your link when a consumer searches for certain words. Or doing things so that your website shows up higher on a Google search without paying them off.
It’s not even the right use of the term! SEO is what you do to climb the ranking of the normal “organic” search results.
This is just straight paid keywords Lincoln could have simply outbid Cadillac to be at the top. Too lazy to look but I wonder want they were paying for those…
Special Electronics Overdrive
Sentient Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimizer
Someone Eating Omelette
Oooh. Omelette. I’ll have mine with Swiss cheese.
Hey you have to meet folks where they are at right? The MKC appears to be a very competitive car in its segment and the MKZ is really only a refresh and QC cycle aware from being even better. The MKX looks to be on the money as well. I am on not saying they are going to sell a bunch of them. I am just stating that their lineup is getting better. They missed the boat on the Navi but then again who cares.
The Navi is a good refresh. The 3.5EB is so much better than the 5.4L, and the interior is improved. It’s a suitable stop-gap until the brand new, all-aluminium, replacement comes rolling in on 26s.
Is DW working for Lincoln now? This is childish of Lincoln, desperate for attention.
I think DW masterminded the whole thing
*Laughs in his best Dr. Evil voice*
“Johan de Nysschen insisted that Cadillac would not cut prices to move a metric sh!t load of inventory & dealerships Cadillac vehicles piling up on factory & dealership lots…”
Okay, these aren’t my figures – read the article ($13,000 off new ATS, $17,000 off new CTS – they even name specific dealers):
Get ‘Em While They’re Cheap: Cadillac’s Blowing Out 2014 ATS and CTS Sedans
2/18/2015 4:35 PM
David Paris
http://www.nada.com/b2b/NADAOutlook/UsedCarTruckBlog/tabid/96/entryid/610/get-em-while-they-re-cheap-cadillac-s-blowing-out-2014-ats-and-cts-sedans.apex
Go Johan! You’re gonna’ sell a handful!
WTF?? dude are you ok? DW I have never agreed with most you have had to say on this site however you have brought up alot of good points in the past that I had to look at and see another side of an article however your current obsession with all things Caddy is a little concerning. In the past you would never just spew things out like this.
Johan’s recent PR offensive, where he’s outright lying about all kind of facts, in order to try & last at Cadillac longer than the 2 years he did at Infinity, has put him on my sh!t lost.
When its serious, you have to lie.
“This is childish of Lincoln”
It’s not childish if it works.
I don`t see brands like Lexus or BMW playing on other brands slogans. They set their course and pursue it rather than bob and weave to get a momentary “advantage” or publicity.
Lexus, BMW et al don’t need to piggyback in this way. Lincoln, on the other hand, desperately needs to get some mindshare in the luxe marketplace. Playing on “Dare Greatly” may be desperate but it’s not childish, and quite possibly may be a cost effective way to benefit from Cadillac’s ad buy.
Glad you agree it is desperate. Maybe business schools teach this to their students.
It just proves Lincoln still has a long way to go.
mike-
If you asked anyone at Lincoln, I think that they would tell you that the brand has a long way to go. The products are better, but it’s yet to be seen if Lincoln can be viable again. I’m not sure people inside Glass House know what they exactly want Lincoln to be. At the very least, execs can’t agree on what Lincoln should be.
Lincoln: IIHS Top Safety Pick! – Lincoln.com
http://www.lincoln.com/Toyota+unintended+GM+ignition
BOLD MOVES from Lincoln.
SEO != paid ads
…those are entirely-legitimate paid advertisements, not shady search engine optimisation shenanigans…
The SEO trick is making the URL include the keywords “dare” and “greatly”. The paid ad is just to get it into the pool, so that when someone searches “Dare greatly”, the lincoln ad will be shown.
/speculation
Now, if you google “Dare greatly” it’s a Lincoln news item which puts it at the top without being an ad, very clever
This would be clever Adwords management, not SEO.
The URL of their site is totally independent of AdWords.
Two failed brands duke it out on the interwebz, film at 11.
Volvo can be the ref.
Mitsubishi will bring the crazy hats! Or whatever they do these days…
What about Suzuki?
Suzuki still moves a fair amount of product in India.
Cadillac may have its problems but at least they have a desirable SUV and some fun RWD performance sedans. Lincoln has re-badged Fords.
The desirable SUV is a rebadged Chevrolet.
And the fun performance sedans are no exactly lighting up the sales charts. Meanwhile, Lincoln has two new CUVs and an RWD/AWD Aviator planned to replace the MkT in a few years.
Yes but most buyers don’t even realize the Navigator is even sold anymore.
That’s what happens when a product goes a decade without meaningful changes.
Nobody is buying their performance sedans. The’re buying the XTS a large FWD rebadged chevy
XTS is the new “Large Size Luxury” car rental default choice du jour at car rental agencies coast-to-coast.
Senior Citizen Customer in Boca Del Vista: “But I had reserved an Avalon!”
Enterprise Customers Service Agent: “Tell ya’ what. I’ll put you in a Cadillac XTS at no additional charge, Mr. Costanza.”
Also its actually Del Boca Vista, Mr Costanza.
http://seinfeld.wikia.com/wiki/Del_Boca_Vista
You drove the car into the lake!?
It drove itself into the lake!
Aha! Del Boca Vista.
Just make sure Jerry buys the rental insurance because he’s going to beat the sh!t out of the Ford Focus.
Mandelbaum!
These pretzels are making me thirsty.
“That’s what it’s for, the reservation -holds- the car here.”
“I know what a reservation is for.”
“I don’t think you do!”
[Outside Auto Shop]
Jerry looks a touch anxious as Tony approaches. Tony is still real
intense.
JERRY: Hey, Tony.
TONY: Thanks for coming in, Jerry.
JERRY: Sure.
TONY: I think I know what’s goin’ on here, and I just wanna hear it
from you. But I want you to be straight with me. Don’t lie to me, Jerry. You know
that motor oil you’re puttin’ in there? (reproachful) From one of those
quicky lube places, isn’t it?
JERRY: Well, I change it so often, I mean to come all the way down
here…
TONY: Jerry, motor oil is the lifeblood of a car. Okay, you put in a
low-grade oil, you could damage vital engine parts. Okay. (holds up component)
See this gasket? (throws it down) I have no confidence in that gasket.
JERRY: I really wanna…
TONY: Here’s what I wanna do. I wanna overhaul the entire engine. But
it’s gonna take a major commitment from you. You’re gonna have to keep it under
sixty miles an hour for a while. You gotta come in, and you gotta get the oil
changed every thousand miles.
JERRY: How much money is this gonna cost me?
TONY: (contempt) Huh. I don’t understand you. It’s your own car we’re
Talking about. You know you wrote the wrong mileage down on the form? You
barely know the car. You don’t know the mileage, you don’t know the tyre pressure.
When was the last time you even checked the washer fluid?
JERRY: The washer fluid is fine.
TONY: (angry) The washer fluid is not fine!
JERRY: Alright, you know what, uhm… I just wanna take my car, and I’m
gonna bring it someplace else.
TONY: What d’you mean?
JERRY: Just, can I have my car? I wanna pay my bill, I’m gonna be on my
way.
TONY: Well, the car’s on a lift.
JERRY: Well, just get it down.
TONY: (subdued) Alright. Okay. Well, uhm, wait here and I’ll uh, I’ll
bring it around.
JERRY: Okay. Thank you, very much.
Tony walks away into the auto shop. Elaine arrives.
ELAINE: Hey. Where’s the car?
JERRY: He’s bringing it.
ELAINE: Good.
There is the sound of a car starting up, then a squeal of tires and
Jerry’s Saab emerges from the auto shop at high speed. It passes Jerry and Elaine and
Races away down the street. They stare open-mouthed after the car, and at
each other in astonishment.
Jerry: Do you believe this? The car was parked right out front.
George: Was the alarm on?
Jerry: I don’t know, I guess it was on. I don’t know my alarm sound; I’m not
tuned in to it like it’s my son.
George: I don’t understand, how do these thieves start the car?
Jerry: They cross the wires or something.
George: Cross the wires? I can’t even make a pot of spaghetti.
Kramer enters.
Jerry: They stole my car.
Kramer: Who did?
Jerry: They did.
Kramer: Was it more than just one?
Jerry: What should I do, should I call the police?
Kramer: What are they gonna do?
http://www.seinfeldscripts.com/TheAlternateSide.htm
Not arguing about the origins of the XTS or SRX but at least Cadillac made an effort to develop some unique content – even if it isn’t selling that well. If Lincoln built a RWD Continental it would give them a lot more standing to talk about daring to do anything.
If Lincoln built a RWD Lincoln Continental, people, like you, would still call it a re-badged Ford. Anything Lincoln sells is going to share a Ford platform.
…you mean, except for the sheet metal, the glass, the wheels, the engines (in the same car size class) and almost everything in the interior, the new Lincolns are re-badged Fords.
Really, the term re-badge doesn’t apply any more when most people try to use it.
You right that the XTS and SRX are just as much re-badges as anything that Lincoln makes and that there are degrees of re-badging. However, Lincoln could hardly be accused of ever being daring about anything. They deliver products that are completely in line with the FWD offering from Ford. If they want to talk about daring, maybe they should contemplate a halo product instead of investing in Google search rankings.
Actually, the SRX is not a rebadge at all. There is no other model on the same platform. The only thing was the ill-fated Saab, which had <500 units produced. It is not (as you are thinking) on the Equinox platform.
Meh, it’s still a Theta. It’s different than the other Thetas, but less different than something like the Ford DEW (LS, Thunderbird, S-Type, XF) is to the DC2 Mustang.
Zoom your right however in the end it doesnt matter. There is enough hype on the internet forums like this that it leaks to the general public and they buy. No one every questioned that a Mercury/Lincoln was a Ford until the advent of such forums as this. Folks bought them cause they like the waterfall grill instead of a blue oval. IMO if you drove a Flex and then a Explorer and then and MKT and then a Taurus and then an MKS to work in straight days you couldn’t convince folks they are the same car.
R they guilty of re-badges, yep sure are however they have gone along way with attempting to correct it.
You gotta slow down a little, these are getting to the point of illegibility.
I am at work using Dragon…Cant stay on one site to long
I dunno what that means!
The motors are identical to Ford, Ford simply forces its customers into the “Lincoln” for certain motor choices.
And paint colors? :)
Both. Gimme the Lincoln metallic red and the 3.7L.
Learned something interesting yesterday. My boss’ wife has a CD3 Mazda 6, evidently you have to come in through the wheelwell to change the headlight bulbs. The fail is strong with this one, but gets me thinking was this a Mazda fail or a Ford platform fail?
It’s a CD3 sedan fail. The Edge/MKX bulbs are easier to change (you don’t come through the wheel well). Once you remove the wheel well liner it takes two minutes. It could be waaaaaay worse. Ever try to change a bulb on an HHR or Cobalt? Bwaahahahaha. You need a special tool and it is recommended that you remove the tire.
Yup I am aware.
I don’t know why they figured out how to change the headlight bulb on the Edge with just the hood open while Fusion owners have to go through the wheel well. I’m guessing the height of the vehicle makes a difference.
It will please you to know that Ford actually made it more difficult to replace the headlight on the 2013+ Fusion. The offical directions are “See Dealer”. My recommendation starts with “remove bumper”.
“If will please you to know that Ford actually made it more difficult to replace the headlight on the 2013+ Fusion. The offical directions are “See Dealer”. My recommendation starts with “remove bumper””
MY12 Zephyr’s looking better and better.
“MY12 Zephyr’s looking better and better”
Pretty much. To be fair, a lot of Fusions/Zephyrs comes with HIDs now. In theory, you shouldn’t have to replace them as often. Unless you have a VW, then they will just stop working. Then they’ll work again once you schedule an appointment with the dealer. I swear that 7 out of every 10 MKV Jettas/Golfs I see have a headlight that is out. I know that I owned an MKV GLI, GTI, Jetta 2.5L, Jetta 2.0T, and R32 and all of them had some sort of headlight issue.
I see fancy headlights as a downside on a car I intend to keep.
LOL VW + electrics.
Please remove the fan belt to change your Beetle’s headlamp. It is the way.
That’s why I said “in theory”.
I found Cadillac’s dare-greatly site. On Steve Wozniac’s bio, it states “He dared to quit the only job he’d ever known and market his invention, the personal computer,”
Steve Wozniac did not invent the personal computer.
And then, there’s this from Johan:
http://www.dare-greatly.com/?seo=g&Dare-Greatly&1-1-1-P1&Dare+Greatly&%23dare%20greatly#
Link doesn’t appear to work.
Poor Henry Leland.
He’d be spinning in his grave from what they’ve done to the company he made into the “Standard of the World”… if only the company he left it to found wasn’t trying to make him spin the opposite direction, and canceling it out. Talk about wrecking a man’s legacy.
This seems like just about the perfect opportunity to post some kind of balance-shaft-related joke, but unfortunately nothing comes to mind at the moment.