Presentation from the 2011 Direct Marketing Association international conference in Boston. Creative Slamdown session was one of the top 10 most attended events at that DMA.

2. Creative Slamdown
Presentation by
Nancy Wahl
Creative Director
Belacoso Communications

3. Over a decade ago, some mad scientist types
at Lincoln got to wondering:
What would happen if we created a mash-up
of a truck, a luxury sedan and an SUV?

5. The Lincoln Blackwood
“Probably the most ridiculous thing
Lincoln has ever done.”

6. “Luxury Utility Vehicle”
With Blackwood, Lincoln hoped to shake off the
perception that it was “old school”, “stuck in the 60s”
and “boring”.
There were just 3 problems...

7. Wrong vehicle
• Blackwood was a triumph of over-the-top style vs. substance.
• Conceived of in the late 1990s, when investors sought out
conspicuous displays their new-found stock market wealth.
• Delivered after the dot.com bubble burst – 1 month after 9/11.
Wrong concept
Wrong time

8. Delivered
Conceived

9. Product challenges
• Genuinely expensive: $53,000
• A shockingly eco-unfriendly 13 mpg (17 highway)
• No 4 wheel-drive
• Unusable truck bed
• “Gorgeous, in the way that Las Vegas honeymoon suites
and Elvis's jumpsuits are gorgeous”

10. “Viva Las Vegas”:
A Pickup for Elvis”
– TheNew York Times

11. “So perverted by style and luxury that it cannot even
carry the occasional lawnmower or sheet of plywood.”

12. “You have to have money to burn to
buy this.This is just an expensive toy.”

13. Our positioning:
A toy for rich boys

14. Prospect hand-out

15. Prospect hand-out

18. Prospect hand-out

19. Blackwood Debut

20. Blackwood Microsite

22. Blackwood Microsite

23. Blackwood Microsite

24. Blackwood Microsite

25. Press not so great? Let’s create our own!

27. $8,000 crystal Mr. Potato Head $10 million Zeppelin
Where could we find the splurging super rich?

28. 50 Neiman-Marcus edition Blackwoods
were offered at $58,000 each.
They sold out in 8 hours.

29. What about the regular edition Blackwood?
We attracted lots of prospects despite:
High price
Lack of basic features
Garish design
The press laughing at us
What more could possible happen?

30. January 3, 2001
Blackwood Reports
Production Delay
Claycomo, MO Originally expected to be on sale by
the fall of 2000, then delayed until the first quarter of
2001, it now appears Blackwood customers may not
take delivery until the second quarter of 2001.

31. “Here At Last” mailer

35. Dealer training video

36. Dealer training video

37. Could direct marketing save a vehicle
so severely flawed in design, value,
functionality, and timing as Blackwood?
No. Production was cancelled
after just one year.

38. What did we accomplish?
• Attracted 59,300 prospects
• Sold 3,356 vehicles at dealerships
– Brought in $17,786,000 in revenue
• Sold 50 Neiman-Marcus units in 8 hours
– $2.9 million in sales from 1 product running 1 time in 1 catalog!
• Helped ensure the Lincoln brand will never again be
perceived of as “boring”
Many thanks to Steve Luftman, Blackwood Art Director,
and the rest of the Y&R team