Hyundai Fluidic Verna campaign boosts brand rating

Band track studies of the campaign by Innocean show an overwhelming jump in the disposition towards the Verna in the C segment.

Pallavi Goorha Kashyup | Mumbai | September 6, 2010

Even before the curtains went up on the Fluidic Verna, the new sedan from Hyundai, on May 11, 2011, a multi-pronged communication effort was set in motion to wrest domination on the C segment from competitors like Honda, Volkswagen, Ford and Maruti Suzuki. According to assessments carried out by Innocean Worldwide, the agency for Hyundai, the campaign has paid off.

Vivek Srivastava, Joint Managing Director of Innocean Worldwide, said, “We have already spent Rs 30 crore on the Hyundai Fluidic Verna campaign. We will spend another Rs 10 crore on the campaign in the festive season.”

Band track studies have indicated an overwhelming jump in the disposition towards Verna in the C segment over Honda and Volkswagen. The Hyundai marquee's overall premium ratings have seen a boost of 16 per cent. A total bookings tally of over 40,000 in three months and still growing steadily is a record of sorts in the segment. For some variants the waiting period is as high as four months, according to sources in Hyundai.

The agency's mandate was simple: to establish Hyundai as a sought after brand in the highly competitive C segment. The teaser phase itself saw an amalgamation of digital, print, OOH and TV to build up expectations. Driving eyeballs was the media presence during the IPL cricket extravaganza. Social media, YouTube, Google Key Words and banners whipped up engagement in the pre-launch phase.

“This time around Innocean broke the mould in terms of the variables we brought into play for the launch. Our in-house capabilities in every field of communication had been scaled up for this communication exercise and they performed with perfect synergy,” said Srivastava. The emphasis was on pre-booking of test drives and creating a buzz around the new car and a new imagery altogether.

At a strategic level it was decided in consultation with Hyundai's top marketing brass to capitalise on the new design approach – the Fluidic Design Philosophy. Also, the ante in terms of lifestyle was upped significantly as the new Verna came equipped with a host of luxury features normally seen in D segment cars.

“The creative execution fused the brand and the user personality seamlessly to portray the imagery of an archetype consumer who is confident about his choice and is classy,” explained Saurabh Dasgupta, Executive Creative Director at Innocean. “The teasers primarily tickled the expectations of the people and gave them the full canvas wrapped in an attitude-filled lifestyle plot which brought out one's innate longing to play the same part,” he added.

The films were executed at exotic locales across Malaysia for added visual zing. The dominating OOH presence was meant to ensure a healthy recall through the campaign period with car displays at strategic points – corporate parks, multiplexes and malls.

It was in the digital domain that campaign achieved significant traction. The teaser phase had a specific microsite, www.newthinkingcomesalive.com. Visitors were explained the nuances of the fluidic design philosophy. Microblog posts were invited and rewarded for originality. Facebook too played an integral part in the process of building a community of believers. The page titled 'Hyundai New Thinking Comes Alive' became popular with aspiring buyers and amateur auto buffs. YouTube was leveraged with its entire set of capabilities in the teaser and launch stage. User generated content drove the views along with the commercials. Masthead branding was deployed along with branded skins on Yahoo!

“The most gratifying aspect was that our cautiously accumulated understanding was amply borne out by the response of netizens,” said B Sridhar, Group Director - Media & Digital Services, Innocean.

Pallavi.Goorha@BestMediaInfo.com

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