Oscars Watch: Hyundai Takes Center Stage

Posted by Dale Buss on February 25, 2011 10:00 AM

If you’re the brand managers at Hyundai, now is no time to let up on the accelerator. The company is trying to build on its recent U.S. market-share gains and ramp up some crucial new products.

Demonstrating its grasp of timing, Hyundai will be the exclusive automotive sponsor of the 83rd Academy Awards telecast on Sunday on ABC. Other auto brands including BMW and Chrysler will be nibbling around the edges with ads pre- and post-awards, and on local TV spots — but Hyundai will dominate the airwaves unlike any other brand, automotive or non-automotive, with seven spots scheduled to air during the telecast itself and three more during red-carpet activities.

“With exclusivity, we get memorability,” John Krafcik, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America, told brandchannel. “It works well for us because of the characteristics of our brand and where we are in our growth cycle. With the compelling TV ratings combined with the glamour of the event and its attendees, it’s an ideal venue to show off the stars of our vehicle lineup.”

Dominating the Oscars broadcast also is a cornerstone of what Krafcik calls Hyundai’s “Big Voices in Big Places” strategy for positioning the brand in the “most-watched, high-profile advertising venues.”

Krafcik said that Oscar advertising is particularly effective because “there are fewer ads in general during the Oscar programming time than during your typical prime-time TV show. Each spot therefore is more impactful.”

One interesting wrinkle in its Oscars ads — they won't all feature the voice of Hyundai endorser Jeff Bridges, whose nomination means the brand's spots using his voiceovers won't be heard next to the Best Actors category in which Bridges is nominated during Sunday's telecast, in keeping with AMPAS rules. Instead, actor Jason Bateman taped new voiceovers for four spots that can run near that section of the show.

Hyundai’s ads will include spots for Sonata, Sonata Turbo, Sonata Hybrid, Elantra, Genesis and Equus (below).

Some will reprise ads that ran during the Super Bowl, and some will be new. But each of them will remind viewers that Hyundai has become a player on the most important stage in the auto industry.

Hyundai's commercials slated for the Oscars telecast include four with new voiceovers by Jason Bateman that can air near Bridges's Best Actor category:

2011 Elantra "Deprogramming" (Bridges v/o):