Mercury Ad Money to Go to Lincoln

The discontinuation of the Mercury brand has left the bank accounts of American manufacturer Ford with some cash to spare. The money, an undisclosed amount, were meant for new marketing and advertising campaigns set to be launched in the years to come for the dying brand.

Now that there is no hope for revival, Ford is redirecting that money towards Lincoln, whose presence in the advertising world will be felt in full in 2011. The car maker plans to use the cash to advertise several models, including the 2011 MKX, the, 2011 MKZ and the MKZ hybrid. And this is only the beginning as, according to spokesman Christian Bokich, seven new or refreshed Lincoln models will be launched in the next four years.

"You'll see a lot stronger presence in the advertising of Lincoln in 2011," Bob Tasca Jr., chairman of the dealer council, was quoted as saying by Autonews. "We've got some pretty good products now. We just need to talk about them more."

The demise of Mercury, the brand intended by Edsel Ford to be a premium offering from Ford, was announced in June 2010, as the only choice left for a dying brand. Perhaps the single brand in recent automotive history to die of old age and not because of some economic crisis or corporate strategy, Mercury was supposed to be slotted between the Ford Deluxe and Lincoln Zephyr.

Somehow, the individuality of the brand got mixed with that of both the other brands, the Big M slowly losing its appeal for customers.