Advertiser: HYUNDAI U.S.
Agency: INITIATIVE
Category: Best Use of Special Events and Stunt/Live Advertising
Vice President/Director/National Broadcast: Daniel Mitz (Initiative)
Director Of Advertising: David Matathia (Hyundai Motors America)
Senior National Director Of Sales: Isaac Ugay (Future US)
Media Director: James Zayti (Innocean Usa)
Supervisor/Planning: Jason Crody (Initiative)
Supervisor/Digital: Tiffany Nguyen (Initiative)
Vice President/Media Planning/Account Director: Omara Hernandez (Initiative)
Social Media Planner: Whitney Champion (Initiative)
Account Manager: Corey Eisner (Advantage Marketing)
Strategy
With a brand reinvention in 2007, Hyundai was one of the few automakers that saw unprecedented growth during the economic slump. To maintain momentum, appealing to Gen Y was essential. Speaking to the Gen Y audience is no easy feat, as research uncovered a scarier truth for the automotive category: Gen Y’s relationship with cars is more complex than other generational groups. It goes deeper than image and performance into a required holistic affinity across many variables including social responsibility, technological forwardness and attainable ownership. Appealing to this elusive target requires going beyond the expected, not interrupting but becoming what Gen Y admires.Relevancy and authenticity are keys to overcoming Gen Y’s short attention span. Hyundai needed to embed within relevant content to become inseparable from it. With the underground zombie phenomenon on the verge of exploding, Hyundai used the dead to bring Hyundai to life with Gen Y consumers.
Execution
Hyundai joined the cast of season two of The Walking Dead as the faithful companion to one of the show’s most popular characters, Shane. To build momentum between seasons, Hyundai partnered with the creator of The Walking Dead, Robert Kirkman, to unveil 'Hyundai Undead,' a 360-degree program centered on a custom Elantra Zombie Survival Machine. The Elantra was incorporated into The Walking Dead comic book and a digital hub was created to track the Elantra’s transformation and social conversation surrounding the vehicle.The campaign climaxed at the pop culture epicenter of the world, San Diego Comic-Con, where the real life Elantra Zombie Survival Machine debuted. The week culminated at the 'Hyundai Undead Black Carpet Event' at Petco Park, where fans, media and celebrities enjoyed a fully immersive Walking Dead experience, including RFID hospital bracelets that allowed party-goers to check-in and share their experiences via social media.
Effectiveness
•A record-breaking 200,000+ Elantras sold in 2012, making it the best-selling Hyundai in the line-up.•'Hyundai Undead' generated over 500 million media impressions from outlets including Variety.com, Yahoo!News.com, and Vanityfair.com.•The concentration of Gen Y within Hyundai’s fan base grew 24.3% between October 2011 and July 2012 leading to Hyundai’s Facebook Like growth exceeding all auto manufacturers in Q3 2012, peaking during July Comic-Con timing.•Hyundai’s familiarity against Gen Y showed an incredible jump from 29% to 36%, besting the Q2 2012 non-luxury auto category average of 33%.