The Sonata continues to be a hot brand for Hyundai Motor America’s division, and the company is wasting no time launching an interesting new campaign to promote it.
The company has introduced a series of new Vine ads to promote various features on the Sonata. In addition to that, the ads also feature an interesting spokesperson (or rather, spokesfigure) that tie in with the ads – an action figure named Hyundai Hank, modeled after director of marketing communications David Matathia.
Speaking with Digiday, Matathia explained the reason behind the debut of Hank. “We wanted to do more than just the owner’s manual to the car and wanted to have fun with it,” he explained. “We wanted someone generic yet someone that everyone could relate to, and before I knew it, I was an action figure.”
https://vine.co/v/OMDwHtM1pi1/embed/simple
The campaign features seven different Vine videos, including the two embedded here, and was created by an agency called Innocean, whose in-house social team worked on the project. Various materials were used with putting them together, including old-school materials like putty, thread and wooden dowels.
https://vine.co/v/OMY69dE2aTn/embed/simple
So far, the clips have been a success, with over 5,000 loops since their debut last week. An outreach to various social networks have certainly helped, as well as other promotional tie-ins, such as the newly introduced “3000 mile test drive” campaign, showing personal journeys featuring the Sonata.
“We wanted to take advantage of Vine as a medium, and we were deliberate in not wanting to be a mere corporate voice,” said Greg Braun, the executive creative director at Innocean. “These were conceptualized for a younger, quirkier audience.”
However, Hank will remain the primary focus – at least for now. “Hank is a bit of a tour guide, and the goal is to use him beyond this campaign,” Matathia said. “We want to try to use him in future efforts, depending on how the engagement levels go.”
Here’s hoping Hank continues on the, ahem, road to success.
