automotive

Hyundai Gets Zombie Seal Of Approval

We live in scary times, but there's at least one bit of good news: zombies have not jumped the shark. Unless, that is, they make “Sharknado” with zombies. No, the living dead are going strong -- thanks to the popularity of comics, and the entertainment deals that have spread from the page to the screen like Solanum, and the fact that being a zombie means never having to say you're sorry.  

The ghoul phenomenon has also benefited from cross-pollination with the Comic-Con phenomenon, and guess who has benefitted from that? Hyundai, for one. The automaker’s second year of a relationship with “The Walking Dead” show and comic from which it derives has allowed it to tap into a Millennial fan base -- people with a freakish devotion to personalizing things, like their bodies, as anyone knows who has gone to one of the events. 

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Hyundai Motor America’s zombiegeist is with Robert Kirkman, who created "The Walking Dead" show and graphic novels from which it leaped. Last year, the partnership involved a Kirkland-designed anti-zombie Elantra Coupe. This year, anyone who goes to the “The Walking Dead Chop Shop” walkingdeadchopshop.com gets to design a zombie-proof, ghoul-killing Hyundai with the chance of getting it built for a Comic-Con tour. 

Greg Braun, SVP, executive creative director, AOR Innocean U.S.A., which created the program with the automaker, tells Marketing Daily that working with Kirkman and Comic-Con is a no-brainer, so to speak. "You have a strong fan base of influencers at Comic-Con, and Kirkman is the godfather of the zombie genre, and he touches everything associated with the show."

Braun adds that the huge success of the show -- the most successful ever on basic cable in terms of viewership -- doesn’t hurt. "It's no longer a niche; it's huge." He adds that Hyundai's involvement around letting people create a zombie-proof car -- suggesting features it could have with Kirkman choosing the best -- is a way to be authentic without hijacking content with tactics like heavy product placement. "It's a great way to engage."  

The "The Walking Dead Chop Shop" has a configuration app with tools and features, and some 300 car parts and custom graphic decals created in collaboration with Kirkman and comic book artists at Skybound. People who create a zombie-proof version of the Elantra, Veloster Turbo or Santa Fe can share with social networks and get a survival score. One can also test the vehicle in digital “Walking Dead”-inspired scenarios, and then enter the vehicle into the contest in which Kirkman chooses which will actually be built. That car gets unveiled at New York Comic-Con.

The effort is backed by print ads in books like Entertainment Weekly, Xbox and PC Gamer, and there will be thematic TV advertising around the 10th-anniversary season of "The Walking Dead" this fall. The effort includes a presence at Comic-Con International in San Diego, radio buys, video content in pop-culture sites, and social media targeting "The Walking Dead" fan base. There are also custom ads by Skybound comic artists in The Walking Dead comic books.

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