The article notes that the campaign which challenges consumers by asking them to reconsider long-held beliefs about cars, minivans and sport utilities through frank statements like “Shouldn’t you drive a car that inflates your intelligence and not your ego.” and “A five-year warranty says a lot about the car. A 10-year warranty says a lot about the car company.”It also asks provocative questions,like “When a car company charges for roadside assistance, aren’t they just helping themselves?”
There is no talk of Hyundai cars being better deals than other cars, as they did with the “Smart Move” ads with Kelsey Grammer doing VO where they pitted their Azera against more expensive and popular luxury vehicles. The article states “The aim is to rid Hyundai of the image it has had since its arrival on American shores as a value brand, sold primarily on the basis of lower sticker prices.”
When approaching ad firms to pitch a new campaign, the guys at Hyundai America seemed to understand their dilemma pretty well. “Hyundai doesn’t have product issues; Hyundai has brand issues,” said Joel Ewanick, vice president for marketing at Hyundai Motor America in Fountain Valley, Calif. They found out that when many American car shoppers are presented hard data that Hyundai’s reliability is up there with the other top guys, the people sort of put a wall. They think it’s just marketing hype.
So when Hyundai tried a direct argument and car-to-car comparisons, the consumers kind of cover their ears. Hyundai is up against some great brands. Though the Azera might be a nice car in its own right, you cannot fool people into not wanting a BMW. They were fun ads and I think it appealed to those like me who like to do a lot of research and dig below the ad hype. But it probably didn’t sway many of those who were brought up to think BMW and Landrover are lustworthy and Hyundai is joke-worthy. Thus Hyundai is trying a less direct approach and instead of pushing a model, they are pushing the company. The earlier 15-second ads of the campaign (ones without Jeff Bridges' voiceover) almost have an activists’ tone as if they are promoting a cause not a car company. Basically Hyundai is pleading with America to exercise some wisdom and open-mindedness to objectively evaluate a car company on what it is doing now instead of what it couldn’t do 7 or 20 years ago.
“What do you think about our new commitment to putting six air bags in all our cars?”
“What do you think of us not withdrawing our crazy long warranties even though we know our cars are good enough to be attractive without it.”
“Don’t you know we make 300,000 cars right here in the USA.”
“You owe it to yourself to look over the facts before making up your mind about who we are”
This is a daunting task for even the best ad firms. Data from the 2007 Brand Keys Loyalty Index survey ranks Hyundai 10th among the 13 automotive brands tracked. The survey found loyalty for Hyundai ahead of only Ford, General Motors and Kia. That's not very good.
Personally before researching a Hyundai, I thought like the majority of Americans. I didn’t know many Hyundai owners actually “love their Hyundais” like people “love their Chevy’s”. I always thought people bought Hyundais, because they couldn’t afford anything better. My mind was changed, but it wasn’t because of any commercial.
While I think this "Think About It" campaign will resonate with some types of people, they might not resonate with car enthusiasts. To reach the car enthusiasts,
Hyundai needs exciting cars, cars that demand their attention. They need a car with looks that make your temperature rise and an engine growl that makes the lunch in your gut dance. I am positive this is not lost on Hyundai, since they just unveiled at the L.A. Auto Show their Genesis Concept Coupe, a bright orange statement that Hyundai has come to play. Rear wheel drive. Up to 300hp. And "deliberate" enough in its design not to be mistaken as a tuner kid's car. They want adults going through a mid-life crisis to consider this car.
The production model has a refined upscale look to it. The Genesis coupe is to the Tiburon what the Toyota Supra was to the Celica. Car snobs will have to work a little harder to snub Hyundai in 2009. With the Accent and Elantra appealing to our smart and practical side and the Genesis Sedan and Coupe working on our thrill-seeking, ego-stroking, emotional side, hopefully Hyundai will transform into a more desirable brand.
4 comments:
You make good points. Hyundai's done everything right on the engineering side, so I don't understand why they don't do two simple things:
1. do an ad campaign involving celebrities driving hyundais in some way -- but do it carefully with trustworthy mature celebrities who won't crash the car in an embarrassing manner or badmouth it when they think the mic is off
2. change their name -- it would have been easy when they merged with kia but instead they stuck with hyundai for their higher-end offerings and delegated kia to the basement. now it's a bit late. hyundai THE NAME seems to say "We are trying to pull a fast one over you and trick you into thinking we're Honda" even if they are not doing that. It naturally raises people's suspicions.
Anonymous: Your points make sense, but the thing is
1. American ad companies have avoided like the plague using celebrities to push major brands except in voice-overs (up to recently at least...this year we see Hayden Pannieterre pushing phones and Jamie Lee Curtis pushing yogurt and that gal for Private Practice pushing Cadillac). Major stars usually don't like hocking products either. It might stunt their career. The Healty Choice ads with Julie Louie Dreyfess is a parody of that fact. Trivia: Hyundai does use celebrities in their Korean ads regularly.
2. Changing their name is probably not an option. Hyundai is not just a car brand. It is a huge multi-armed international brand.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyundai ) I think the owners have too much pride in the brand to change it. Changing it would cause them to lose face.
Since I wrote this post, Hyundai has made much progress. The Genesis sedan has given it a huge shot in the arm. Kia has a bigger mountain to climb, but Hyundai is in the middle of a hard push to raise its image as well. The Kia Forte should be a good looking car.
I predict Genesis will fail to make inroads with luxury car buyers despite the great reviews, because again of the name. They need to make a distinct brand. Others have suggested putting all their low-end offering into Kia (as it is there is too much overlap) and making Hyundai a high-end brand. Others have suggested keeping Hyundai low-end and creating a new high-end brand. I suggest making Kia a low-end brand and making a new high-end brand and consigning the Hyundai name to corporate parenthood. Datsun changed their name to Nissan so as difficult as it is, it is doable. Hyundai is really unpronouncable and if it was really pride that prevented them from changing the name for Americans (and like you I suspect it was) then that would have been a very dumb thing to do and would make Hyundai management undeserving of expanded appeal.
I don't think anyone put any money that Hyundai would make much inroads into the luxury market with its first effort no matter what they called it.
As I've heard they are considering a new brand name for their luxury cars, now that they have proved they could make one that doesn't embarrass themselves. Gossip, I think. (Personally I am glad they didn't pick Genesis as a new brand name, because I thought it was kind of corny.)
Hopefully this effort does something to help bring up the status of the other cars in the line, which I think is a more important goal than just to win over brand sensitive luxury car buyers.
They have tried addressing the unpronounceable issue with the "It's Hyundai, like "Sunday" commercial, but it will take more work. Hyundai is probably the most foreign sounding car brand out now. I grew up thinking Honda and Toyota were American names, because they didn't sound like Mitsubishi. Honda was smart in Americanizing "Akira" into "Acura"from the get go.
I don't know if Hyundai made a mistake or not going the route that they have. Lots of people compare the move to Toyota and Lexus, but a big difference is that Toyota had a great reputation back then, so when they went into the luxury segment people were expecting them to at least come up with something reliable. Hyundai is still a joke in some minds. So if they invest in great new name, wouldn't people would still consider the new brand a joke, since they know what factory it comes from. It is impossible to hide stuff like that in this day and age.
Curious about which celebrity you think would best help Hyundai's brand perception. (Michael Jordan would do it for me, but I highly doubt he would agree to do it.)
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