Lincoln Motor Company brought 10 of its 2013 luxury vehicles to Washington on Thursday for the second stop of its 11-city "Hello Again" marketing tour. Focused around the new MKZ, the tour creates a series of unique experiences for drivers to see their home city from the driver's seat of a Lincoln and is part of the company’s recent rebranding efforts. The Washington stint follows a two-week stay in Miami.
In each city, guests sign up for a tour time online, then check in at the venue, dubbed the "Hello Again Hub," and choose a car from the fleet lined up on the street. Guests had the option of driving—or being driven in—a vehicle for the experience, led by a brand rep in the front car who provided turning directions via walkie-talkies in each car.
“The tour is an extension of our 'Hello Again' platform that we kicked off in February to reintroduce people to the Lincoln Motor Company with a fresh, new look,” said Alex Acey, Lincoln’s brand content and alliances manager, who coordinated the tour. “People need to see a physical representation of [the rebranding] and the MKZ is representative of that from a design perspective as well as the performance.”
Lincoln has partnered with local artists, influencers, and up-and-coming organizations in each city to serve as local stops on the driving tour. While in Miami, guests had coffee with Panther Coffee and watched a cigar-rolling demonstration at the Wynwood Cigar Factory. In Washington, stops include a popsicle-making demo at Pleasant Pops, a food-truck-turned-café operation in Adams Morgan, followed by a drive through of an art gallery of paintings from RAW Natural Born Artists set up in an alley on the way back to the Hello Again Hub, where other brand partners like a local architecture firm and jewelry designer talked to guests.
“We want to give folks an idea about what is going on underground and what is up and coming,” Acey said.
The company chose SoHo Studios in Miami and marketing and branding firm Fathom Creative’s offices on 14th Street in Washington for its local hubs, which serve as the rally point before and after the driving tours. “The goal for hub is to find a place that is off the beaten path but provides a unique experience,” Acey said. “This location provides a blend of rich, historical architecture with right modern touches and a way to walk through easily to introduce people to the [tour] partners and invite them to linger in the hub.”
The experience will remain in each city for two to three weeks to provide the driving experience for about 1,500 people on each stop. The tour will hit Boston later this month before moving onto New York, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Houston, finally wrapping up in November in Atlanta.
