We're here with the Hyundai
Automobil Ruf Lanz is establishing the Korean automaker Hyundai as a German brand of quality.
Automobil Ruf Lanz establishes the Korean car brand Hyundai as a German quality brand.
Car advertising in the opposite lane: now that not only the design of the various brands is almost indistinguishable and consequently the advertising for new models is like one egg to another, Ruf Lanz has now cracked open such an egg and looked for the inner values of a brand for Hyundai. This yellow - or Asian - egg has now grown into a campaign that once again makes car advertising a lot of fun to drive. "Most car manufacturers are content to depict their models and use headlines that seem to come straight out of the wind tunnel: stripped of all rough edges. This is a great opportunity for Hyundai to stand out with a smart strategy and amazing implementation," says Markus Ruf.
The budget was won in the summer following an agency presentation. The South Korean brand Hyundai is the first car for the agency, which had previously operated in public. Two workshops were held with the client to tackle the problem and set the strategic guidelines.
A new wave of car imports from China will soon roll over us. As low-cost models, these cars will once again set new price standards. Hyundai is aware of the impending competition and therefore wants to position itself differently in good time. The expected European market entry of Chinese cars in the next few years suggests that Hyundai should no longer just position itself as a "low-cost car". The strategy is: "Hyundai is a self-confident, high-quality car brand at a very good price", as Managing Director Adam White puts it.
This new brand positioning confirms existing Hyundai drivers in their purchasing decision. At the same time, it is intended to appeal to new groups of buyers. Market research shows that although Hyundai tends to be bought by conservative people with lower incomes, the brand is also popular with the progressive middle and higher income groups. This is confirmed, for example, by the New Car Buyer Survey 2006 and the Brand Media Monitor. Every buyer likes to be reassured that they have bought a good car. In the case of Hyundai, this is now also confirmed by various studies.
Until now, Hyundai has been perceived almost exclusively as a "cheap car". However, the brand has image deficits in terms of quality, safety and design. Although it is also convincing in this respect: Hyundai took third place in the renowned J.D. Power quality study 2006. Directly behind two luxury brands. Conclusion: While Hyundai has so far enjoyed a reputation as an inexpensive car, a new lance is now to be broken in the direction of quality.
These considerations led to the idea: The German among the Asians. A pointedly differentiating brand statement that means nothing other than: Hyundai offers top quality at a very good price. Because quality is suggestively associated with German vehicles in all surveys. With a wink, the campaign plays on the newly discovered similarities between German and Korean quality.
True-to-style German-KoreansKoreans pose around the Hyundai vehicles like genuine Germans. Once as an exemplary large family with a German shepherd dog. Once as hunters in perfect German hunting uniforms. And just in time for the opening of the Oktoberfest in Munich as an original traditional costume band. When realizing the photos, attention was paid to "absolute stylistic authenticity". So the dog in the first subject is of course a purebred German shepherd, just as the hunters will later be purebred Bavarian hounds.
In a first step, the campaign works on the brand level. Here, the Hyundai Santa Fe takes center stage in double-page and half-page advertisements. Because 4 x 4 and sport utility vehicles are in vogue. The Ruf Lanz agency has also just ordered such a model.
At the tactical level, the special Hyundai Getz Alaska and Hyundai Tucson Alaska models are being advertised. At the representative level, around 140 Hyundai dealers in Switzerland can download various small advertisements via the Internet.
Hyundai attaches great importance to local roots in its advertising. That is why the entire campaign is not an adapted European pudding, but was designed exclusively for Switzerland by Ruf Lanz. The concept will continue to offer rewarding opportunities for declination in the future. The Germans in Mallorca will be hard to avoid.
This is accompanied by various radio spots that are currently going viral online. Koreans with a good knowledge of the German language - but with the charm of the Asian accent - read German poems such as "Die Glocke" by Schiller, a scene from "Faust" by Goethe, the hymn to the oak tree, the song of the Lorelei, the lyrics of the German national anthem or the original swearing-in formula of the German Federal President. After a few sentences, a claim is superimposed over the "corruption": "The German among the Asians ..."
Of course, as a result of the story, some of the German educational material in these radio commercials "had to be bypassed in a big way", Markus Ruf concedes. However, the agency is happy that the client not only allowed such cheeky ideas, but also recognizes their added value for the brand image. The first dealers already want to spray the motifs on their delivery vans.
Ruf Lanz now not only has the streetcars and buses of the city of Zurich in its portfolio, but also private cars. Naturally, this requires an increase in personnel. Not least because of the Hyundai budget, the creative agency, which was only founded in 2001, will grow from 10 to 16 people over the next few weeks. In October, the agency therefore plans to move to larger premises on Zurich's Löwenplatz. As the name suggests, the creatives not only want to create more space for employees behind the globe, but also more space for lions...
Andreas Panzeri
Car advertising in the opposite lane: now that not only the design of the various brands is almost indistinguishable and consequently the advertising for new models is like one egg to another, Ruf Lanz has now cracked open such an egg and looked for the inner values of a brand for Hyundai. This yellow - or Asian - egg has now grown into a campaign that once again makes car advertising a lot of fun to drive. "Most car manufacturers are content to depict their models and use headlines that seem to come straight out of the wind tunnel: stripped of all rough edges. This is a great opportunity for Hyundai to stand out with a smart strategy and amazing implementation," says Markus Ruf.
The budget was won in the summer following an agency presentation. The South Korean brand Hyundai is the first car for the agency, which had previously operated in public. Two workshops were held with the client to tackle the problem and set the strategic guidelines.
A new wave of car imports from China will soon roll over us. As low-cost models, these cars will once again set new price standards. Hyundai is aware of the impending competition and therefore wants to position itself differently in good time. The expected European market entry of Chinese cars in the next few years suggests that Hyundai should no longer just position itself as a "low-cost car". The strategy is: "Hyundai is a self-confident, high-quality car brand at a very good price", as Managing Director Adam White puts it.
This new brand positioning confirms existing Hyundai drivers in their purchasing decision. At the same time, it is intended to appeal to new groups of buyers. Market research shows that although Hyundai tends to be bought by conservative people with lower incomes, the brand is also popular with the progressive middle and higher income groups. This is confirmed, for example, by the New Car Buyer Survey 2006 and the Brand Media Monitor. Every buyer likes to be reassured that they have bought a good car. In the case of Hyundai, this is now also confirmed by various studies.
Until now, Hyundai has been perceived almost exclusively as a "cheap car". However, the brand has image deficits in terms of quality, safety and design. Although it is also convincing in this respect: Hyundai took third place in the renowned J.D. Power quality study 2006. Directly behind two luxury brands. Conclusion: While Hyundai has so far enjoyed a reputation as an inexpensive car, a new lance is now to be broken in the direction of quality.
These considerations led to the idea: The German among the Asians. A pointedly differentiating brand statement that means nothing other than: Hyundai offers top quality at a very good price. Because quality is suggestively associated with German vehicles in all surveys. With a wink, the campaign plays on the newly discovered similarities between German and Korean quality.
True-to-style German-KoreansKoreans pose around the Hyundai vehicles like genuine Germans. Once as an exemplary large family with a German shepherd dog. Once as hunters in perfect German hunting uniforms. And just in time for the opening of the Oktoberfest in Munich as an original traditional costume band. When realizing the photos, attention was paid to "absolute stylistic authenticity". So the dog in the first subject is of course a purebred German shepherd, just as the hunters will later be purebred Bavarian hounds.
In a first step, the campaign works on the brand level. Here, the Hyundai Santa Fe takes center stage in double-page and half-page advertisements. Because 4 x 4 and sport utility vehicles are in vogue. The Ruf Lanz agency has also just ordered such a model.
At the tactical level, the special Hyundai Getz Alaska and Hyundai Tucson Alaska models are being advertised. At the representative level, around 140 Hyundai dealers in Switzerland can download various small advertisements via the Internet.
Hyundai attaches great importance to local roots in its advertising. That is why the entire campaign is not an adapted European pudding, but was designed exclusively for Switzerland by Ruf Lanz. The concept will continue to offer rewarding opportunities for declination in the future. The Germans in Mallorca will be hard to avoid.
This is accompanied by various radio spots that are currently going viral online. Koreans with a good knowledge of the German language - but with the charm of the Asian accent - read German poems such as "Die Glocke" by Schiller, a scene from "Faust" by Goethe, the hymn to the oak tree, the song of the Lorelei, the lyrics of the German national anthem or the original swearing-in formula of the German Federal President. After a few sentences, a claim is superimposed over the "corruption": "The German among the Asians ..."
Of course, as a result of the story, some of the German educational material in these radio commercials "had to be bypassed in a big way", Markus Ruf concedes. However, the agency is happy that the client not only allowed such cheeky ideas, but also recognizes their added value for the brand image. The first dealers already want to spray the motifs on their delivery vans.
Ruf Lanz now not only has the streetcars and buses of the city of Zurich in its portfolio, but also private cars. Naturally, this requires an increase in personnel. Not least because of the Hyundai budget, the creative agency, which was only founded in 2001, will grow from 10 to 16 people over the next few weeks. In October, the agency therefore plans to move to larger premises on Zurich's Löwenplatz. As the name suggests, the creatives not only want to create more space for employees behind the globe, but also more space for lions...
Andreas Panzeri
