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Hyundai: First Super Bowl, Oscars, Now Times Square

Fountain Valley-based Hyundai Motor America is capping a big marketing year with a billboard in Times Square.

The automaker, part of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co., is putting up a cube-shaped sign at 2 Times Square that features two screens showing video of its Genesis coupe.

The electronic billboard will show the car being driven and asks consumers “What’s your excuse?”

Consumers can respond to the billboard’s question through text messages. The responses are set to be posted on the video screen.

Times Square billboards draw 1.5 million views daily—and many more through New York’s New Year’s Eve party coverage. The midtown hub is one of the most iconic locations for outdoor advertising, said Joel Ewanick, vice president of marketing at Hyundai’s Fountain Valley U.S. headquarters.

The billboard effort aligns with the automaker’s big media strategy recently with heavy advertising at the Super Bowl, Academy Awards and World Cup.

After the 2010 Super Bowl, the Times Square billboard will be used to promote the automaker’s redesigned Son-ata sedan, which launches early next year.

Hyundai has been marketing at big events and places as other automakers have cut back.

In late 2008, it signed a running Super Bowl sponsorship by picking up time abandoned by General Motors Corp. for the Super Bowl and Academy Awards.

“We made a conscious decision to be aggressive marketers at the beginning of 2009,” Ewanick said. “We loved what we got from last year’s Super Bowl numbers.”

Next year’s Super Bowl spots will feature Hyundai’s cars and the company’s charitable work.

The idea to start talking more about the company came after Hyundai’s Assurance program, which launched earlier this year and allows buyers to return a car if they lose their jobs or face other hardships.

“We had a line of copy that really resonated with consumers, ‘We’re all in this together and we’ll get through this together,’” Ewanick said.

So far, the company has had less than 100 people return a Hyundai due to a job loss, he said.

“It’s worked out exactly how we hoped it would work,” Ewanick said.

Hyundai is looking for more places that people might be surprised to see its advertising.

The company’s Genesis Coupe is in Microsoft Corp.’s “Forza Motorsport 3” driving game for the Xbox 360 video game console.

“I have a short list of things, of places where I want us to be,” Ewanick said. “When they become available for whatever reason—because those opportunities don’t happen often—we’ll be there.”

The automaker spends about $450 million in advertising yearly, according to TNS Media Intelligence, a unit of London-based ad agency WPP Group PLC.

Hyundai’s market share grew to 4.3% in

the first 10 months of 2009 from 3.1% a year earlier.

The automaker is one of the few in the industry to see sales up since January, with a 4% rise from a year earlier.

Production Co. Office

Venice Beach-based Mutiny Pictures, a film and video production company specializing in online marketing, has opened an Irvine office.

The company, started by Orange County native Michael Pierce, plans to offer production and post-production work to large and small businesses.

The production shop is looking to all types of businesses, including real estate investors, online retailers and technology startups.

Mutiny already works with several local clients including Huntington Beach-based jewelry maker Tattooed Steel LLC.

The company works with companies to get their videos to pop up on Internet searches. Mutiny produces video clips and distributes them on social media sites and seeks to get them listed on the first page of search results from Google.

“It’s an important place for businesses now because it’s a very finite space,” Pierce said.

The company in the past has worked with New York-based JWT, part of Britain’s WPP Group PLC, McCann Worldgroup, part of New York’s Interpublic Group of Cos., and New York-based Universal Music Group on commercials and music videos.

Autobytel Expands Leads

Irvine-based auto marketing company Autobytel Inc. has licensed its technology for leads on auto buyers to Irvine-based Kelley Blue Book Co.

The lead technology will be used on Kelley Blue Book’s online classified network, called The Trusted Marketplace, which allows shoppers to do their vehicle research, conduct used-vehicle searches and find their next auto on the same site.

Autobytel has increased its partnerships in the past year on its lead generating services.

The company buys leads from companies such as Yahoo Inc., catering to busy dealers that don’t have time to gather leads from different sources.

Revenue from leads to dealers made up 85% of Autobytel’s $13.4 million in third-quarter revenue.

The company teamed up with Santa Monica-based Edmunds.com Inc. early this year in an agreement similar to Kelley Blue Book’s.

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