Hyundai Motor America is featuring a real-life family
in TV spots for the 2021 Santa Fe SUV, due to COVID-19 filming restrictions, and it turned out to be a positive.
“I think you can feel a little bit of the chemistry
between them,” Hyundai Motor America CMO Angela Zepeda tells Marketing Daily.
One spot, "Beef Jerky," shows the
nimble SUV venturing way off-road up a mountain using its all-wheel drive capability in search of Pa’s Jerky after seeing a homemade roadside sign. The jerky ends up being more spicy than they
bargained for, forcing a frantic drive back down the mountain in order to get to a gas station and get some milk, something the family does in real life.
“They use milk
for anything spicy, when the kids think something is too spicy,” Zepeda says. “So having a real family actually was a benefit in the end. It was driven by COVID filming guidelines, but in
the end, I think it just ended up being better.”
Family life has shifted due to the pandemic. Although families are at home together more than ever, digital distractions can
interfere with spending actual quality time. The campaign, from Hyundai AOR Innocean, shows how the Santa Fe can help families get outside to find adventure together and get more out of their quality
time.
A second spot, “Zen,” shows the same family on a road trip, this time with the mom driving while the kids make music
requests. When they arrive, she hangs back after the kids burst out of the vehicle, switching the vehicle user profile to her music preferences and relaxing for a moment.
Both spots run through March. A third spot breaks in March featuring a different family driving the hybrid version of the vehicle.
Hyundai also partnered with
Amazon and will soon award two sweepstakes winners with a new Santa Fe. During the month of December, Amazon delivered 4.2 million interactive, Hyundai-branded boxes that directed customers where to
go to learn more about the 2021 Santa Fe and a prompt to enter the sweepstakes.
Hyundai’s next launch is for the Tucson in April, Zepeda says, which will be one of the
biggest this year.
Per last week’s announcement, the timing of
this year’s launches prompted the automaker to decide against a Super Bowl spot this year, she says.
“We love the Super Bowl, we love NFL, but we felt like
it was appropriate for us to sit this one out,” Zepeda says.
The automaker prefers to use the buy when it has something big to talk about, she says.
“Super Bowl is a big investment, and we have another big idea that we think will be equally as big,” Zepeda says. “We're still part of Sunday night football. But we just
made some very smart and hard choices for ourselves this year.”