LINCOLN / PAST, FUTURES

Commemorating Lincoln as a featured marque at the 2013 Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance with a program built to be felt, not just photographed.

An immersive influencer and social program around Lincoln’s year at Pebble Beach, featuring a double exposure series by automotive photographer Kevin McCauley.

In 2013, Lincoln was a featured marque at the 63rd Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. Four classes of custom-bodied Lincolns lined the 18th fairway of Pebble Beach Golf Links, from prewar coachbuilt roadsters to the 1956 Continental Mark II on the official poster, while the Lincoln MKC Concept stood on the concept lawn. Lincoln’s past and its future were on the same field. Typical event photos would have recorded the day. The goal was to make people feel it.

As creative lead for Ford and Lincoln social media at Team Ford at WPP/Ogilvy, I led Lincoln’s social program for the Concours. Our team brought influencers from Lincoln’s co-creation program to Pebble Beach, the epicenter of the classic car world, and gave them an immersive look at where the brand had been, from the heritage vehicles on the show field to the Northern California landscape around them. We added aerial drone footage, still new territory for brand social content at the time, to show the scale of the event and the coastline from above.

The featured creative asset was Past, Futures, a series by Kevin McCauley. Using double exposure, he layered the organic forms of Lincoln’s heritage vehicles over the landscape and the energy of the show, capturing both in a single frame. Its artistry made it the centerpiece of the program: part heritage portrait, part landscape, and part record of a brand looking ahead.

The series still holds up. McCauley, who now shoots for brands including Lincoln, Aston Martin, McLaren and RM Sotheby’s, keeps Past, Futures in his professional portfolio more than a decade later.

Client: The Lincoln Motor Company
Employer: Team Ford at WPP/Ogilvy
Position: Creative Lead, Ford and Lincoln Social Media
Project role: Program concept, influencer co-creation, creative direction, social strategy
Featured artist: Kevin McCauley (Capturing The Machine), Past, Futures double exposure series
Event: 63rd Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, August 18, 2013
Content: Influencer experience, double exposure photography, aerial drone footage
Disciplines: Influencer co-creation, event and social strategy, photography, aerial content, creative direction