Hyundai Motor America is driving more marketing dollars to the National Football League: it’s now an automotive sponsor for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Fountain Valley-based automaker, a frequent advertising partner of the league and long a sponsor for its Sunday Night Kickoff show on NBC, recently entered a multiyear partnership with the Florida football team that makes it an automotive sponsor of the team.
The deal, terms of which were not disclosed, also includes naming rights to the West Stadium Club, a VIP lounge at the team’s recently renovated Raymond James Stadium that includes a host of game-day amenities.
It’s now called Hyundai Club, and it includes more than 60,000 square feet of lounge space, two bars and several oversized video walls, as well as a retail store for the team’s gear.
Hyundai will have in-bowl branding throughout the stadium, which recently underwent a $160 million renovation, and be integrated into the team’s preseason television and radio spots through the regular season. It will also have vehicle displays before every home game.
Bateman Returns
The partnership comes on the heels of the automaker announcing actor Jason Bateman as the “voice of Hyundai” early last month.
Bateman—his credits include “Arrested Development” and “Ozark”—will do the voice-overs for Hyundai’s national traditional and digital advertising. He kicked off his new role last month when the company debuted a new 60-second commercial titled “Better Drives Us,” directed by Wally Pfister, known for his cinematography work on “The Dark Knight” and “Inception.”
The ads ran during the FIFA Women’s World Cup Final this summer and will appear in theaters, as well as “high-visibility national programming” such as Discovery’s Shark Week, according to Hyundai.
There was also a series of 30- and 15-second spots looking into the Hyundai’s safety features, affordability and focus on customer service.
Bateman most recently starred in Hyundai’s 60-second Super Bowl ad this year titled “The Elevator,” which ranked as the No. 1 automotive ad during the Big Game in USA Today’s Ad Meter, and was the game’s fourth-best commercial overall.
Hyundai’s Chief Marketing Officer Dean Evans said the brand wanted “a voice that is recognizable and relatable.”
“After Jason starred in our highly successful Super Bowl 52 commercial, we knew he would be the perfect fit to communicate our brand’s message,” Evans said in a statement. “He is versatile in a way that he can be both humorous and entertaining, but also serious and informative.”
