A MESSAGE TO SPACE

Short List
TitleA MESSAGE TO SPACE
BrandHYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY
Product / ServiceHYUNDAI MOTOR COMPANY
CategoryC01. Use of Digital in a PR campaign
EntrantINNOCEAN WORLDWIDE Seoul, SOUTH KOREA
Entrant Company INNOCEAN WORLDWIDE Seoul, SOUTH KOREA
Advertising Agency INNOCEAN WORLDWIDE Seoul, SOUTH KOREA
Production Company PLANIT PRODUCTION Seoul, SOUTH KOREA

Credits

Name Company Position
Kiyoung Kim INNOCEAN Worldwide Executive Creative Director
Gunny Park INNOCEAN Worldwide Creative Director
Youngill Jang INNOCEAN Worldwide Art Director
Jaeshik Seo INNOCEAN Worldwide Copywriter
Yonghee Kim INNOCEAN Worldwide Art Director
Mijin Lee INNOCEAN Worldwide Copywriter
Seoyeon Cho INNOCEAN Worldwide Art Director
Jongpil Kim INNOCEAN Worldwide Sr. Account Director
Junghwan Kim INNOCEAN Worldwide Sr. Account Director
Eunjung Ahn INNOCEAN Worldwide Account Director
Chandler Kim INNOCEAN Worldwide Sr. Account Manager
Euisung Ha INNOCEAN Worldwide Account Manager
Jeehye Ryu INNOCEAN Worldwide Account Executive
Jeeyoun Roh INNOCEAN Worldwide Account Executive
Minhee Kang INNOCEAN Worldwide Media Director
Haksoo Kim INNOCEAN Worldwide Media Planner
Sungho Han INNOCEAN Worldwide Media Planner
Juhee Kim INNOCEAN Worldwide Production Manager
Hojun Noh Planit Production Executive Producer
John S. Park Addict Films Film Director

The Campaign

Challenge: How does one of the world’s leading auto manufacturers create an emotional connection with consumers? Objective: Demonstrate the brand’s caring vision by showing them a true story where the brand connected consumers in most innovative and impressive scale. Strategy: Communicate with global audience at an eye-level they can relate to – a story on family. Authenticity was key factor throughout the campaign as it is the key to move today’s consumers. Execution: To make the film feel as personal and authentic as possible, we found a true story of a daughter apart from her astronaut father in space and connected the two by drawing her message with car tire tracks big enough to be seen from space. We replicated the hand writing using GPS mapping. A total of 11 Genesis were used to create the message on the desert with size of 5.55 square km, almost twice the size of Central Park, NYC. Several satellites were involved to test if message could be seen on the given coordinates from the International Space Station. Outcome: Hyundai deliberately conveyed a strong message to people who understand the core value of relationship - being connected to people we care. The message was approved by Guinness World Records as the world’s largest tire track image. Hyundai successfully managed to position itself as innovative and caring brand. The film reached 70 million YouTube views and was recognized by Google Ad Leaderboard for no.1 most watched ads on YouTube in April.

The Brief

The goal was to move global audience with a story everyone can relate to and connect with the brand emotionally. To achieve this we decided to demonstrate with a true story and actually connecting two people in great distance in impressive scale. After 5 months of research, we found a story of an astronaut’s daughter. We focused on authenticity of the campaign by recreating the daughter’s message for her dad on a desert big enough to be seen in space by her dad. We searched for the location with land surveyor and used GPS mapping to replicate her handwriting.

Results

Total YouTube views: 70,000,000+ - The Most Watched Video of the Day on YouTube(US); April 18th. - #1 Weekly Viral Video from Automotive News, 2 consecutive weeks - #1 Weekly SNS Share from Unruly Global Ads chart - #1 in “The 10 Most Watched Ads on YouTube in April” from Google Ad Leaderboard (more views than #2~#10 combined) - Covered by major media Forbes, Times, People, Mirror Bild, Huffington Post, The Verge, Boston.com. etc.. - Aired on ABC, NBC, FOX TV

Execution

The campaign was executed in 40 nations on YouTube and social media. Within few days of the launch, the campaign received many media attention from local broadcasting news station to renowned media channels such as “The Huffington Post” and “Forbes”. The grand scale and never seen before approach to promoting a brand was the crucial reason behind heavy media spotlight. It was also important to work with Guinness World Records to add credibility to the content and to use their brand power. The Guinness World Records title itself aroused curiosity and ensured never seen before result.

The Situation

Hyundai Motor Company announced its new slogan "New Thinking. New Possibilities." few years ago and it set out on a new direction with vision that Hyundai will become a "Lifetime partner in automobiles and beyond." Hyundai wanted to challenge the conventional that automobiles are mere transportation but rather, they can overcome the limit of physical distance and achieve the new way of connecting people emotionally closer. And we found a perfect model for this campaign - a story of a daughter who misses her father because he has to be away from home to work in space.

The Strategy

In the past, Hyundai had rational connection with consumers as “money for value,” despite Hyundai’s established caring brand vision - being a lifetime partner. Hyundai wanted this brand vision to be communicated directly with the global audience to connect with them emotionally. To communicate with the global audience, we strategically picked a relationship that is universally relatable – family.