The Campaign

Hyundai believes future spaces for humans need to be more nature friendly, also to stimulate the senses which we are born with. Bringing the night sky to ground is a way of speaking directly, connecting to deep parts of our minds. The darkest building on earth, the Hyundai Pavilion is to bring the brand vision of future mobility to a physical space-- through the Universe, Water, and Hydrogen--to convey the story of its technology. While the fuel cell technology is something extra scientific and technical, we believe there is power in the old, physical, and tactile experience, which helps people feel connected to the future mobility and the society it will take us.

The Brief

Since the brand(Client) would not like to expose the budget of this project, we can not share the information regarding the budget. This is a strictly confidential information.

Creative Execution

We built the world’s darkest building in Pyeongchang, coated with Vantablack VBx2 which absorbs 99% of light. As you approach the surface of blackness, 1,947 gleaming LEDs create three dimensional illusion of the Universe, the origin of Hydrogen. As you step inside, a vast white space unfolds as thousands of water droplets mesmerizingly collide and split on a pure white surface. The water droplets are physical representations of hydrogen, and visitors are encouraged to play with the water channels. Hydrogen is represented as an engine that puts static things such as the architectural space in motion. Then you enter a series of 4 rooms where each room showcases how this abundant substance powers the vehicle. Visitors are encouraged to take selfies, to touch and feel. The 35m x 35m x 10m(H) pavilion was open to the public from 9 February to 10 March, 2018 during 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Games.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

We welcomed 72,000 visitors over 30 days of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. However, the greatest impact was felt globally. Major broadcasters such as BBC, CNN and NBC dedicated features to the "making of" the project and the collaborators involved, and the story of "the blackest building on Earth" spread virally, across all forms of media. Since it simultaneously combined architecture, storytelling, marketing, innovation, new materials, technology, history, science, art, and was for a car company and during the largest sporting event on earth in 2018, it was picked up by specialist media dealing with each of these subjects, and by the individual correspondents dealing with these subjects within all the general news outlets who were covering the Winter Olympics. This gave the project a exponentially wider reach than would normally be achieved around a car launch. Market share of green cars has been increased 176% more than last year.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

As a local sponsor for Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea, Hyundai presented the world’s blackest pavilion, the Universe, to the world stage. As a means to communicate to the audience about its fuel cell technology, the entire pavilion was a series of sensual experiences like a playground for visitors. Within 4 weeks of operation, more than 72,000 visitors from all over the world came to discover what’s behind the dark facades and shared special moments with Hyundai. The Olympics are a great chance to speak to the world, and Coubertin believed in strengthening human connections through shared experience.

The structure was designed to simulate the darkness of space and the creation of starlight by hydrogen, the original fuel of the universe. People can’t imagine hydrogen, but they can remember the night sky and imagine the unknown potential of the universe beyond. We intended to emulate the Olympic spirit, where anyone from any background comes to participate. Physically participating in work, in rituals, in moving our bodies, is a way of learning and understanding at completely different level. As humans we have grown our culture and societies around the way we behave physically as well as what we say. We wanted the work to change behavior in order to stimulate imagination. We wanted to create a space where people participate, interact, hence learn and imagine the bright future.