Celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz (perhaps most famous for her work with musicians including The Rolling Stones and John Lennon) has worked on plenty of advertising campaigns during her career. But up until this Lincoln campaign, she had never collaborated with an automotive brand.
Lincoln of course, has been reimagining its brand in recent years. WPP’s Team Detroit launched a dedicated division to work with the brand called Hudson Rouge, subsequently teaming up with actor Matthew McConaughey, beginning with 2014’s rebranding campaign.
In the new print campaign, Leibovitz shot a series of portraits around a vague road trip theme. The ads show people enjoying a momentary reprieve from their implied journey in a 2017 Lincoln Continental, set to the tagline “That’s Continental.”
The subjects themselves are far from anonymous models. Among them are artist Tali Lennox, daughter of Annie Lennox, actor Giles Matthey, director Ben Younger and Jon Batiste, leader of Stay Human, the house band on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Leibovitz brings her distinctive style to the campaign, which feels very much in line with Hudson Rouge’s recent work for the brand, minus McConaughey. For more on the creative process behind the work, check out the behind-the-scenes video below.
Asked why Leibovitz was the right fit for the campaign, Hudson Rouge CCO Jon Pearce told Adweek, “I think it starts with the fact that we’re positioning Lincoln as a warmer, more human-oriented brand than the other luxury manufacturers, who tend to focus on the machine itself.”
“So, to launch the new Lincoln Continental, considered their new flagship, we went to the world’s most renowned portrait photographer, Annie Leibovitz. She’s not a “car” photographer in any sense, so I guess it was a calculated risk we took,” he added. “But we did know that she would capture something special in her subjects, and integrate them beautifully and memorably with Lincoln’s new vehicle.”
Credits:
Client: The Lincoln Motor Company
Agency: Hudson Rouge
Global Chief Creative Officer: Jon Pearce
Group Creative Director: Jeff Payne
Associate Creative Director/AD: Emlyn Allen
Associate Creative Director/CW: Brett Minieri
Creative Director: Ashley Davidson
Director of Content Production: Suzanne Crowe
Senior Art Producer: Kaia Hemming
Agency CEO: Paul Venn
Account: Doug Molloy, Eileen Lyons, Albert Moy
Photographer: Annie Leibovitz
Production: Annie Leibovitz Studio
—Credits for Behind the Scenes Video
Client: The Lincoln Motor Company
Agency: Hudson Rouge
Department: Brand Publishing Lab
Global Chief Creative Officer: Jon Pearce
Creative Director: Ashley Davidson
Editorial Manager: Ashley Eldridge
Director of Content Production: Suzanne Crowe
Agency Producer: Celia Williams & Stephen Wright
Agency CEO: Paul Venn
Account: Erin Camin
Production Company: Moving Image Projects. INC.
D.O.P.: Barbara Leibovitz
BTS Photographer: Mark Schafer
Production: Annie Leibovitz Studio
Editorial House: Cutters
Editor: Scott Gibney
Producer: Julia Pepe
VFX: The Mill