• by Karl Greenberg , July 8, 2010

Hyundai Motor America is boosting social-media efforts and focusing on real customer comments in a new campaign that touts vehicles like the new Sonata, the Santa Fe, Accent and Elantra. The effort is also, in some sense, the debut of Chris Perry as VP of marketing at the company, replacing Joel Ewanick, who is now VP of marketing at General Motors.

The "Uncensored" effort, running through the summer, is unscripted commentary from people who saw the vehicles at mall tours and will test drive them for a month. They also will participate in a ride-and-drive tour later. The campaign starts this month and runs through summer. It comprises six TV spots, digital, radio, social media, experiential, customer relationship marketing and point-of-sale components.

The effort, via Innocean Worldwide Americas, will air on both cable and network television, and outtakes will be posted to the automaker's YouTube channel.

Hyundai will also let 125 people who don't own a Hyundai drive a 2011 Sonata for a month, with the automaker posting their unedited comments on Hyundai's Facebook site. The social-media element will also be central to a multi-city ride-and-drive where people can film their drive impression and post video directly to their own Facebook pages from a video booth at the venues.

Perry took over as VP of marketing at Hyundai in May, after Ewanick left briefly for Nissan, then moved to GM. At GM, Ewanick has bolstered the marketing lineup reportedly by hiring Liz Boone, the second-in-command account person at Hyundai's agency and corporate sibling, Innocean Worldwide Americas. There's no official word on what Boone's strategic role will be at GM, but a source says marketers at Buick, Chevrolet, GMC and Cadillac will report to her.

Boone, who was most recently group account director overseeing Hyundai's passenger cars, was once at Chemistri, Cadillac's agency in Detroit, where she helped launch the campaign that brought the GM lux brand back from the dead. The Led Zeppelin-tinged "Break Through" ads voiced by actor Gary Sinise, and the "art and science" resurrection of Caddie also helped propel the division's GM Mark LaNeve (now at Allstate) to the top marketing spot at the company. Boone also did a stint at Doner, handling Mazda.

Meanwhile, Steve Rosenblum, the celebrated ad chief at GM's GMC, has also been shuffled, although the company has not said for what corporate destination he is bound. Rosenblum, who became ad and promotions director at Chevrolet at the end of March, has been taken off that post. Rosenblum, who should be credited with giving GMC a rock-solid brand identity with "Professional Grade" and a premium positioning with upscale and design-focused advertising, has been with GM since the mid-1990s. Like Boone, he is a former agency person.

Steve Wilhite, who became COO for Hyundai Motor America in 2006, says Ewanick had the gift of "yes" -- for energizing talent at Hyundai, but that Hyundai has more than enough horsepower to keep the speedometer pegged. Wilhite -- who also ran U.S. marketing for Nissan, overseeing the launch of the latter's "Shift_" work in the U.S. and was Nissan Motor Company, Ltd.'s SVP global marketing -- says Hyundai's team is "the best sales and marketing team as has existed in the industry."

He gives a nod to HMA president and CEO John Krafcik for being particularly strong in product development and strategy. "[VP sales] Dave Zuchowsky is excellent with sales, business and marketing; Chris Hosford [comms chief] is terrific in PR and a guy who is actually much better and more capable than he was given credit for in the organization -- very bright and creative; and Frank Ferrara [head of customer satisfaction and planning] has done a great job in parts and service, and runs an incredibly good organization."

He says while most of the team was in place when Ewanick arrived, "he gave them an opportunity to flourish and work in a collaborative way," he says. "Joel gets involved directly rather than working through a third party. I was sorry to see him leave, but when he left the organization was not fractured and was not seriously weakened."

Wilhite also says Krafcik's decision to move Chris Perry up to VP rather than bring someone in from outside made sense. "That was a very smart move. For the last three or four years, though, he has had an opportunity to demonstrate his skills and bring greater creativity to the business."