Mike Simpson

BRAND ACTIVATIONS Hyundai scores global marketing coup with viral space video The automotive brand gambled on a highly complex and expensive brand activation that had one chance of success and could have been ruined by something as simple as clouds passing overhead. But the risk has paid off handsomely … 28 strategicmarketing June–July 2015 S The vehicles were fitted with special studded tyres to ensure the tracks in the sand could be seen from space OUTH KOREAN AUTOMOTIVE brand Hyundai has scored a global marketing coup by enabling a 13-year-old Texas girl to send a spectacular love note to her father – an astronaut circling high above the earth on the International Space Station. The brand activation attracted widespread media attention around the world and went viral by racking up almost 26-million views on YouTube in just over two weeks. The views have subsequently climbed to 59-million and continue to rise. The company took 11 of its Genesis car models to a dry lake bed in the US state of Nevada and then used GPS technology to enable a team of professional stunt drivers to use their tyre tracks to create a message in the sand that read: ‘Steph (short for Stephanie) loves you!” Given dad’s height above the earth – around 400km – the wording needed to be large, so the Hyundai team created a message measuring five square kilometres. This was subsequently recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as the largest tyre track image ever created. Reporting on the brand activation, Forbes business magazine noted that, after the location had been selected, the motor company sent its cars “to the area’s flat, featureless desert floor, along with an international team that included a film crew, stunt drivers, surveyors and others. After the location was surveyed, the vehicles were fitted with special studded tyres to make sure the tracks in the sand could be seen from space”. Forbes continued: “The path of the vehicles had to be perfectly synchronised to recreate Stephanie’s original handwritten message. Everyone involved also had to hope for good weather – since rain and wind could easily wipe the message away – and While dad circled the earth in the International Space Station (above left), daughter Steph wrote the message that the Hyundai team would later replicate in giant letters in the desert clear skies so that Stephanie’s astronaut dad could read it from space.” In a four-minute video produced by Hyundai and broadcast via YouTube, 13-year-old Stephanie I (no surname provided) is seen writing her message by hand and then attending the YouTube views have reached 59-million and continue to climb preparations and ‘writing’ of the message in the sand by the stunt drivers. As the last car exits the screen, Stephanie’s father can be heard speaking from the International Space Station: “Hey Stephanie, it’s your Dad. I just wanted to call and say I love you and thank you.” The message created in the desert is then seen in photographs taken from space, with Stephanie concluding: “He’s seen so many things up there, but I hope this message is the most special.” Hyundai’s cutting-edge activation is meant to tie in with the brand’s ‘New Thinking. New Possibilities’ slogan introduced in 2011. “The campaign highlights our philosophy of caring for customers through emotional interaction and becoming a brand beyond simply a means of transportation,” Scott Noh, Head of Hyundai’s Overseas Marketing Group, said in a statement. “Although sending a message to space with our Genesis cars was not an easy challenge, it enabled us to demonstrate our caring vision to our customers.” In a behind-the-scenes video, also to be seen on YouTube – and which has racked up more than 500 000 views of its own – Hyundai’s creative director on the project, Gunn Ho Park, notes that one of the aims is to show that “a car can be more than just a means of transportation”. According to the Canadian-based news website Global News “the stunt symbolises a growing trend of advertisers using the Web to provide ‘extra value’ content to build customer interest and loyalty”. However, Hyundai’s video still has some way to go to match the most successful viral videos of all time. Volvo Trucks’ ‘Epic Split’ campaign featuring tough-guy actor Jean-Claude Van Damme has achieved 78,5-million views in a year, while the Gangnam Style video by pop star Psy has racked up 2,3-billion views. June–July 2015 strategicmarketing 29