Why is this work relevant for PR?

For a company to achieve an organic relationship with its customers through PR, it is more important to win their hearts rather than to project a self-made image. Especially for a company like Hyundai Motor Group, which represents an industry of a nation. The public has higher standard in terms of corporate social responsibility for HMG than they would from a smaller company. The Quiet Taxi was able to persuade the public by doing more than just supporting a single driver – it communicates the dreams of 300,000 deaf members of our society, and how technology can realize their dreams.

Background

The goal for this campaign, for Hyundai Motor Group, was to deliver the group’s vision to general public in a more heart-felt way. The vision – “Together for a better future” – was to be delivered in a way that was not a display of technological prowess, but a new kind of creative that left a tangible result after the campaign. We found the answer for this goal in an award-winning idea from Hyundai Motor Group’s R&D Idea festival. It was an idea that helped the communication within cars, for hearing-impaired people.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Deaf drivers quickly accumulate fatigue whilst driving with a high amount of focus on their vision. Not being able to accurately pinpoint where a sound is coming from, adds to the adversity they face in driving. AVC(Audio-Visual Conversion) technology was developed to help deaf drivers with this problem. It converts all internal and external sound stimuli into visual cues, and displays them on the steering wheel and the HUD as pictograms. This allows the driver to visually identify the type of the sound, and where it is coming from. ATC(Audio-Tactile Conversion) notifies the driver of sound stimuli, as well as the distance to an obstacle through vibrations on the steering wheel. The HUD and the UX design that allows the driver to operate with a visual focus to a singular area, while receiving all external information, are not only beneficial to the deaf drivers, but also useful to non-deaf drivers.

Describe the strategy (30% of vote)

In Korea, taxi driver is a job that many elderly people chooses as their second career after they retire from their first. As such, it is an societal issue many people identify with, but the issue of deafness is something else entirely. That is because most people are not even aware of the fact that deaf people can drive. That is why we chose Mr. Lee Dae-ho, who despite his impairment chose this vocation, and the letter his daughter left for his customers in the back of his taxi, to be the central theme of our campaign. The key message was this – “Hyundai Motor Group looks forward to the future, where 300,000 hearing-impaired people of Korea are given new opportunities, through our technologies.” We believe the viral success of The Quiet Taxi was achieved by providing hearing-impaired people with solutions that matter to them the most.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

The Quiet Taxi started its first drive in December, 2018. The entire development process was made into a documentary-styled film, 4 minutes and 35 seconds in length. In consideration of the length of the film, the ad was launched on YouTube in January, 2019. It was targeted towards domestic and international consumers, and an additional content was developed in collaboration with a hearing-impaired YouTuber, as to actively spread awareness of this campaign throughout the deaf communities.

List the results (30% of vote) – must include at least two of the following tiers:

Through ‘The Quiet Taxi’ campaign, over 40% of Korean populace (1.55 mil YouTube views, 10% TV views) became aware of this taxi driven by a hearing-impaired man. The engagement rate was, compared to PR campaigns of other companies over a similar period, over 40 times as much. 97% of this engagement was positive, which went to show the positive effect this campaign have had on the public views regarding deaf drivers. 31% of comments have directly indicated that their next vehicle purchase will be from Hyundai Motor Group, indicating a positive increase in brand image. Many of the CSR campaigns put a spotlight on those less fortunate than most, but the campaign themselves, but are rarely sustained. With ‘The Quiet Taxi,’ however, this is different. Not only is it sustainable, but it carries a message of a future where new jobs are created through technology. As such, although the campaign was executed without any budget used for TVC, it garnered much support, as evidenced by the number of organic impressions (6.61 million) and publications (189 local, 58 international) that published the story of The Quiet Taxi. The Quiet Taxi is currently operational in Seoul with 90% of the passengers showing willingness to ride again. Most of the messages left for the driver are those of love, and support.