Hyundai's new Turbo Face ad shows the maker hasn't lost the magic - despite losing two key marketing execs.
The Brit’s historical axiom to announce the demise of the ruling monarch is, “The King is dead. Long live the King.” After General Motors double-dip executive raid of the marketing department of Hyundai America the operative phrase could be, “The CMO is gone. Long live the CMO. But he’s gone too!”
It was a true WTF moment. Buzz in the biz was based on several questions: What was last year’s marketing company of the year going to do? What could they do? Could they continue trend setting creative and blockbusting media buys? But this was just the tip of the iceberg.
In addition to the unexpected departure of the two key execs this last year, Hyundai — in a startling move, without a review — replaced, Omnicom’s Goodby, Silverstein and Partners with a new agency, Innocean Worldwide Americas. This caused some controversy because Innocean was not just a new agency, it is a house agency owned by the brand’s parent, Hyundai Motor Group of Seoul, Korea. And house agencies are a creative anathema to many in the industry.
Is the king really dead?
Based on a preview of new Sonata turbo campaign last week, Hyundai has not skipped a beat and continues its bold and distinctive advertising. When I asked John Krafcik, president and CEO of Hyundai about the new campaign, the first since the departures, he responded, “Our agency, Innocean Worldwide Americas, is and has been the source of our innovative marketing programs and marketing communications since they became agency of record last year. Their passion for the brand is extraordinary.”
The turbo campaign is based on the facial expressions of Sonata drivers when the turbo power kicks in while driving. Naturally the commercial is called Turbo Face. Think about g-force dives and the first drop on a rollercoaster to get a mental image. Granted it’s an off-beat image, but the point is certainly well made about sudden acceleration and does, I believe, grab the viewers’ attention. The commercial will air on the usual primetime television shows on broadcast and cable networks.
The print portion of the campaign continues the turbo face concept with the four distinctive print ads using turbo face photos with and good car shots. And isn’t it nice to see campaign coordination in all mediums? Getting the photos did not involve any sudden acceleration, so how did the photographer capture the shot? Any ideas?
The state of Hyundai’s advertising almost one year since it was the Ad Age Marketing Company of the year (the accolade was awarded to Ford this year) despite loss of not one but two CMOs – no replacements yet either – and a new agency is just fine. The brands marketshare growth has been phenomenal which, when you think of it, is based on terrific products backed with equally terrific advertising. Kudos to both.
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See agency credits next page.
Agency Creative Credits:
TV Commercial:
Executive Creative Director: Jeff Spiegel
Creative Directors: Robert Prins & Doug James
Art Director: Frauke Tiemann
Copywriter: Greg Collins, Doug James
Production Company: Annonymous Content
Director: Mark Romanek
DP: Jeff Cronenweth
Editorial Company: Spotwelders
Print Advertisements:
Executive Creative Director: Jeff Spiegel
Creative Directors: Robert Prins & Doug James
Art Director: Frauke Tiemann
Copywriter: Greg Collins
Photographers: Nadav Kander (Faces) Vic Huber (Cars)