Matthew McConaughey is back in the Lincoln driver’s seat. This time, he’s behind the wheel of the all-new 2018 Lincoln Navigator, the refreshed luxury SUV that’s going toe-to-toe with its old rival the Cadillac Escalade.
Over the past few years, Lincoln has been making some genuinely good and competitive luxury vehicles while making ads that are, well, kind of weird. This new minute-long video kicking off the “Perfect Rhythm” campaign is a great example of a weird ad as it shows us the new Navigator not driving through some upscale urban setting or exploring the luxurious interior, but rather, it’s doing one of the most boring things you can do on the road. It’s waiting for a train.
We see a lovely light blue 2018 Navigator in the range-topping Black Label trim driving down a country road and stopping at train tracks. We briefly get a view of the expansive interior and what appears to be a very luxurious second row of seats. Then the unexpected happens and we see Matthew McConaughey tapping on the steering wheel predicting the train that’s coming.
The tapping intensifies and turns into drumming on the steering wheel like it’s a bongo. Then in a Jedi-like gesture, he points at the signal for the train and it comes down as the bells go off. McConaughey rolls up his window and continues pounding on his steering wheel until the train passes. Finally, he gives us a smile, pushes the little button to put the Navigator back in drive, and continues down the road.
This isn’t like what we’d normally see in an ad for a luxury SUV, and we’re not sure if that’s a good thing. Sure, it’s something different, but it doesn’t exactly show us the many virtues of the new Navigator that would make people want to buy it. Maybe Matthew McConaughey’s face and steering wheel drumming prowess are convincing enough.
