Lincoln Teams Up With Serena Williams To Promote New Navigator

Lincoln has unveiled its latest Navigator campaign, which extols the virtues of the luxury SUV's BlueCruise hands-free driver assist system. Unlike a conventional commercial, Lincoln has recruited one of the world's greatest tennis players, Serena Williams, to subtly convince you to buy a Navigator.

In a short video titled Letting Go, we see a father and a young girl at the beach. The two wade into the water, and the girl floats on the surface while her dad holds her in place. As she learns to trust the water, her father takes his hands away, and she continues to float on her back - we all remember learning to swim, and for some, being able to float alone is a terrifying prospect.

It's much the same as a hands-free driving assist. Many people do not trust autonomous driving, even Level 2 systems like BlueCruise. But Lincoln is trying to change that viewpoint.

The video cuts to Williams driving her Navigator. The tennis champ appears to be reminiscing on the moment, suggesting she's the little girl that learned to swim all those years ago. Placing her faith in BlueCruise reminds her of that time, and as she takes her hands off the wheel, we see the young girl trusting the water and floating along calmly.

This not only gives us the impression that BlueCruise is a trustworthy piece of tech but also highlights the convenience and comfort of this driver-assist. In July, we learned that Ford and Lincoln owners had covered over 90 million miles with BlueCruise engaged.

The company announced that it will soon roll out new updates for BlueCruise. It will initially arrive for the Mustang Mach-E, but it's safe to assume the entire Ford/Lincoln lineup will benefit from the new version.

This isn't the first time automakers have teamed up with celebrities to promote vehicles or features. Earlier this year, Kevin Bacon and his daughter, Sosie, starred in an amusing advertisement for the Hyundai Ioniq 6. The commercial's premise was simple: if your dad can make the change to electric vehicles, why can't you?

Last year, we also saw a quartet of celebrities work together to promote the Toyota Tundra. DubbedThe Joneses, several stars with the 'Jones' surname race each other through a rural landscape.

As for the new Navigator commercial, Letting Go premieres today on Serena Williams' social media channels and will go live on Lincoln's various platforms before coming to paid channels on September 5.