How Hyundai built emotional equity in India through its #BrilliantMoments content initiative

Hyundai claims to be India’s second largest automaker with a 16.4% market share. The brand has consistently perched on the no. 2 slot for the last 20 years. Hyundai has always appealed to the modern Indian buyer as it drove in the cars with new technologies, better fit and finish, affordable budget and value that was unheard of.

The closest competitor and the market leader had the first mover’s advantage and appealed to the buyers on nationalistic sentiments. The market leader was the highest category spender and through their communication, had been strengthening their stance as a heritage brand through its nationalistic equity. In comparison, Hyundai’s imagery was a sum total of its models and their communication promise.

As a result, while Hyundai’s market position was stable, there was a severe dip in the brand’s emotional equity. This was a glaring red zone for the future. People bought Hyundai for its technical edge, but when asked, they were unable to express their relationship with the brand.

Thus, the strategic communication challenge was set — Hyundai wanted to be the most loved automotive brand in India.

Campaign objective

1. Strengthen emotional equity of the brand Hyundai

2. Revitalise brand perception

3. Create an upward shift in purchase intention

Creative strategy

Inspire users to define their relationship with Hyundai through their personal, genuine stories, which unfolded during the 20-year journey of Hyundai in India. 

Solution

The brand rolled-out a three-phase campaign, #BrilliantMoments, on digital platforms to engage the Indian audiences, including existing Hyundai owners and potential buyers.

Phase 1 (June 27, 2018- July 17, 2018)

Launch Films: To help people acknowledge the love for their Hyundai car and the different roles it had played in their lives, the brand seeded two films inviting entries for stories from #BrilliantMoments with Hyundai.

Phase 2 (July 17, 2018-September 17, 2018)

1. Story Collection Drive: The brand provided multiple platforms to Hyundai users to share their Brilliant moments.

a) Microsite: To upload stories online and for the users to interact with the brand and each other (https://www.brilliantmoments.in/)

b) Setup at dealerships: Hyundai set up letterboxes at dealerships where sales staff encouraged users to share their own stories on specially designed campaign forms.

c) Email: Encouraged users to send in their unique stories via email.

2. Brilliant Moments Anthem: It depicted Hyundai’s 20-year journey in India. It was also promoted solely on digital platforms. (https://youtu.be/tmZeFNLIQsE)

3. Hyundai Postal Stamp: For the first time in the Indian auto industry, a unique commemorative stamp was launched to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hyundai in India, showcasing ‘Santro’, the first car launched by the brand in 1998.

4. CRM, Emailer and WhatsApp: Special personalised messages and calls were made to Hyundai users thanking them for the association and prompting them to share their #BrilliantMoments.

Phase 3 (August to September, 2018)

Stories from all over India were analysed and the 10 best ones were recreated as digital content. Actor Shah Rukh Khan was the narrator for every story, which featured real users whose stories had been recreated.

A digital voting campaign was initiated and the public was asked to vote for their favourite stories with the intent of selecting three winners who would be rewarded for their contribution.

Results

1. Increased engagement with brand Hyundai: The seeder films became big hits with people sharing their #BrilliantMoments with Hyundai across owned social media comments sections and third party forums. The response was phenomenal and the films gathered 500 million+ views (424M on YouTube). Such was the effect of the campaign that 544,000 people subscribed to Hyundai YouTube channel as a result of the campaign. The campaign gave the9 billion impressions while 221 million unique users were engaged.

India welcomed and supported the campaign with open arms by sending a whopping 18,600 entries as response to the activities carried out in Phase 1 of the campaign. The campaign became an instant hit. The first seeder film made every Indian teary eyed while the second film filled every Indian with national pride.

2. Revitalise brand perception: Brilliant Moments topped the YouTube leader board for advertisements for the month of July. Unaided awareness for the brand increased from 80.0 in 2017 to 80.5 in 2018. Thus, the brand perception significantly improved with the masses and was able to position Hyundai as a ‘family-oriented’ brand, which values its users and relationships.

Social listening demonstrated that word associations with the brand became more favourable after the Brilliant Moments campaign.