Lincoln Zephyr Transforms Luxury With Online Dream Vacation Opportunity

DEARBORN, Mich., Oct. 31, 2005 -- Imagine a dream vacation perfectly tuned to your tastes. Imagine customizing every aspect of your trip according to your passions in life. And, imagine that you have the chance to win this trip, along with the all-new 2006 Lincoln Zephyr sedan...

Ford Motor Company's Lincoln brand is adding a new level of luxury to the sweepstakes experience. "Where Will Zephyr Take You?" debuts tomorrow online at http://www.wherewillzephyrtakeyou.com/. Consumers can enter up to once per day from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, 2005 and can craft their choice of an experience of a lifetime. There will be one grand prize winner and three first-place prize winners. Nearly $100,000 in prizes will be awarded during this period.

Lincoln created "Where Will Zephyr Take You?" to tap into consumers' "passion points" - hot buttons that excite and delight - and provide unique luxury travel experiences. For the Lincoln Zephyr target customer, these passion points include arts and music, sports, and lifestyle entertainment and "Where Will Zephyr Take You?" presents consumers with travel choices in each of these categories.

"Where Will Zephyr Take You?" offers consumers the opportunity to design any number of possible dream getaways to urban hot spots, such as New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. One of the premiere passion packages is a "Chicago Cookery" trip that features an 8-course dinner at Everest, Food & Wine Best New Chef Jean Joho's famed restaurant, as well as a cooking class at the Fields Culinary Studio. Another is a "Texas Ambush Excursion" jet trip to Lajitas, the Ultimate Hideout, with a round of golf at the Ambush course, known for having 17 holes in Texas and one in Mexico.

Lodging, provided by Hyatt Hotels Corporation, includes a range of boutique, modern luxury or trendy amenity packages, such as in-room massages, aromatherapy kits selected by Travel + Leisure, or a chef's choice tasting dinner. Dining choices include restaurants in each city that are either trendy (Setai in Miami), landmark (Union Square Cafe in New York City) or celebrity chef locales (Frontera Grill in Chicago).

"We know what our target customers love to do - and how much they like experiences that are customized to their lifestyles," said Lincoln Brand Marketing Manager Tom Grill. "'Where Will Zephyr Take You?' is a great way for us to reach out to these consumers and let them discover how Lincoln and the new Zephyr match their definition of luxury."

Lincoln is conducting a tailored marketing program to promote "Where Will Zephyr Take You?" to its targeted consumers: men and women between the ages of 35 and 45 who are self-made optimists driven to make the most of every opportunity. The program includes banner ads on Web sites (including home page takeovers on certain dates), such as SI.com, CBSsportsline.com, NYTimes.com, MSNBC.com and MSN.com.

The marketing program also includes an advertising insert in seven Time Inc. magazines, including FORTUNE, Ski and TIME; and two American Express Publishing Corporation publications (Travel + Leisure and Food & Wine). This piece also will be distributed on select American Airlines flights and in select American Airlines Admirals Clubs.

In addition, Lincoln is working with Time Inc., American Express Publishing, and American Airlines to deliver on these travel experiences. American Express Publishing and Time Inc. have accessed their deep luxury lifestyle relationships to secure various prize components, such as hotel accommodations and amenities, celebrity chef access, sporting events, and entertainment venues. American Airlines - and its award-winning Web site, AA.com - are providing the airfare for the travel experiences.

"Where Will Zephyr Take You?" is part of a comprehensive marketing plan for the Lincoln Zephyr that includes inventive experiential advertising techniques and direct marketing innovations as well as traditional methods that bring to life a new theme line, "Reach Higher," and celebrate the American entrepreneurial spirit.

As an example, also beginning Nov. 1 pedestrians will experience the thrill of the open road as Lincoln introduces the first street-level motion picture ads in the United States. The new Zephyr walking ads will debut in five New York City locations. At each site, a 60-foot-long street level display will use the speed of walking and light to turn compacted, high- resolution static images of the TV spot "Red Carpet" into a 15-second motion picture.

About Lincoln

Lincoln is a brand of the Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., which manufactures and distributes automobiles in 200 markets across six continents. With nearly 325,000 employees and 110 plants worldwide, the company's core and affiliated automotive brands include Aston Martin, Ford, Jaguar, Land Rover, Lincoln, Mazda, Mercury and Volvo. Its automotive-related services include Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford's products, visit http://www.fordvehicles.com/.

About American Airlines

American Airlines is the world's largest airline. American, American Eagle and the AmericanConnection(R) regional airlines serve 250 cities in over 40 countries with more than 3,900 daily flights. The combined network fleet numbers more than 1,000 aircraft. American's award-winning Web site, AA.com, provides users with easy access to check and book fares, plus personalized news, information and travel offers. American Airlines is a founding member of the oneworld(SM) Alliance, which brings together some of the best and biggest names in the airline business, enabling them to offer their customers more services and benefits than any airline can provide on its own. Together, its members serve more than 600 destinations in over 135 countries and territories. American Airlines, Inc. and American Eagle Airlines, Inc. are subsidiaries of AMR Corporation. AmericanAirlines, American Eagle, AmericanConnection, AA.com and AAdvantage are registered trademarks of American Airlines, Inc.