• by Tanya Gazdik , August 31, 2017

Hyundai Motor America is prepping for its seventh year of college football marketing. 

The integrated campaign this year includes game-day experiences, a seven-episode video series with The Players’ Tribune, along with print, radio, in-stadium and digital advertising with each of the partner teams.

This year’s focus is on making the game-day experience better in a meaningful way for the fans at 11 partner schools, said Dean Evans, chief marketing officer, Hyundai Motor America.

“Throughout the seven years of our college football program, the one thing that stands out is the passion and loyalty fans show towards their school,” Evans tells Marketing Daily. “Passion and loyalty are two attributes that are important to the Hyundai brand, so we feel it’s a natural connection.”

Over the first six years of the program, Hyundai has interacted with more than seven million fans at its school activations,

“We wanted to enhance the fan experience with the Hyundai Fan Base activation and provide an insiders look at their favorite schools and athletes with entertaining online content,” Evans says. “The college football program complements our official NFL sponsorship well and they both provide strong platforms to showcase our brand promise of ‘making things better.’”

The 11 college football programs in the partnership include nine ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 Preseason Poll and the top three schools overall. The automaker will execute 72 game-day events at 11 featured games, via agency Advantage. The partner schools include Alabama, Arizona State, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, Tennessee, Texas and the University of California, Los Angeles.

Hyundai’s Fan Base will include interactive elements like the Pack the Back challenge, where fans will try to fit stylized 3-D puzzle pieces into the trunk of a Tucson, a football toss contest, trivia and face painting, along with prizes and other promotional giveaways. Legends from the host schools will also be stopping by for photo opportunities and autographs. In addition to the Tucson, Hyundai will have on display its 2018 Sonata and will offer a sweepstakes for one fan to take one home over the course of the season.

The Players’ Tribune gives athletes a platform to connect directly with fans and the Homecoming video series, in partnership with Hyundai, will explore the perspective of a professional athlete returning to campus to live out an ideal day. The seven-episode series, featuring seven different players, will visit the places they loved most, meet the people who had the biggest impact on them and see how those places have changed for the better.

To close the season, Hyundai continues to be the title sponsor of the Hyundai Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas on CBS on Dec. 29.