Hyundai Electric Air
Hyundai Australia
Issue 62 | March 2022
Agency
Innocean Worldwide Australia
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director Wez Hawes Creative Director Dan O’Connell Senior Writer Damon Porter Senor Art Director Rod Soares
Production Team
Producer Warwick Nicholson, Louis Moore Editor Lucio Tagliani
Other Credits
Social, Partnerships & Product Marketing Specialist Ava Senior Account Director Vincent Pled
Date
June 2021
Background
In Australia, surfing is a competitive sport which attracts sponsorships from competing brands vying for exposure.
The brief was to build awareness of Hyundai's electric credentials amongst the surfing community, a tight knit group that’s cynical of brands trying to infiltrate their sport.
Idea
Rather than sponsor a surf competition which other brands have done, Hyundai created their own. Hyundai Electric Air was as progressive as the Kona Electric itself, capturing the imagination of surfing’s best aerialists.
A set of keys was suspended five metres below an electric blimp. The first surfer to perform an aerial out of the wave, grab the keys and land back on the wave won a Kona Electric.
Results
The promotion made its way into leading surfing blogs and publications, reaching over 7 million Australians generating almost AUD $1 million in earned media leading to a 400% increase in requests for test drives and 2,250% increase in contact dealer conversions.
Our Thoughts
When you know precisely who you’re talking to then you also know how to talk to them.
So much advertising is anodyne because it’s targeted to as many people as possible.
The lowest common denominator rules. The reverse, however, does not apply. You can talk to a very tightly defined group of young surf pros but anyone else picking up on the message can, and will, be engaged. The association between Hyundai and a sport umbilically connected to environmental awareness will not be lost on those of us who have never gone beyond a bellyboard.