Hyundai’s Alabama-built Tucson riding on Disney star power
The Alabama-built 2022 Tucson is getting a marketing push through a new collaboration between Hyundai and Disney. (Hyundai)
If you watched the season premiere of “The Bachelorette” on ABC Monday night, you may have noticed that last season’s bachelorette, Tayshia Adams, has been smitten by a big shot from Alabama.
While Adams may not have offered the Hyundai Tucson a rose, the Alabama-built SUV is not in danger of being sent home, thanks to a new marketing deal between the automaker and ABC’s parent company Disney.
In what’s being called “creative integration,” you will be seeing the 2022 Hyundai Tucson show up with stars from shows like ABC’s “The Bachelorette” and “black-ish,” ESPN’s “SportsCenter,” and some of Disney’s Marvel properties.
The way Hyundai and Disney are featuring the Tucson is already generating interest in one place – the Montgomery plant where the vehicles are built.
“Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA) team members are always interested in how Hyundai Motor America will market Alabama-built Hyundai sedans and SUVs,” said Robert Burns, vice president of Human Resources & Administration at HMMA. “The marketing campaign for the all-new Tucson is already creating a lot of buzz on our production floor and team members are beaming with pride because the Tucson and the soon-to-be-released Santa Cruz sport adventure vehicle will make a big impression on their respective car buying segments.”
RELATED: Hyundai to add next-gen Tucson SUV to Alabama family of vehicles
Of course, the point of marketing is to lead to more sales, and more sales lead to more vehicles being built in Alabama.
“The Tucson will be one of the highest-quantity vehicles produced at HMMA in 2021,” Burns said. “The broad appeal of Disney’s world-famous brands and entertainment platforms are a great launching pad for the all-new Tucson and should keep our assembly line humming in 2021 and beyond.”
It’s shaping up to be a big year for the plant, with the Santa Cruz, Hyundai’s first pickup, set to be built there in a few weeks.
“By mid-June, HMMA will be building five vehicles on the same assembly line,” Burns said. “Those vehicles will be Elantra and Sonata sedans, Santa Fe and Tucson SUVs and the Santa Cruz sport adventure vehicle.”
The new marketing effort is an extension of Hyundai’s latest “Question Everything” advertising campaign.
“This unique creative integration with Disney that spans different networks, programs and talent is an unprecedented approach to reach billions of people in an engaging way,” said Angela Zepeda, chief marketing officer at Hyundai Motor America. “Disney is the perfect partner for this massive execution with its world-famous brands and entertainment platforms that allows us to build upon our Tucson marketing campaign.”
A Hyundai Tucson is parked in front of the home featured in the ABC television show “black-ish.” A new deal between Hyundai and Disney will have the Tucson showing up with some of the entertainment company’s stars. (Hyundai)
There will be 12 television spots of various lengths and a total of 50 pieces of content with stars asking thought-provoking questions. The campaign launched with “The Bachelorette” June 7. More will come on television, streaming, digital and social platforms to promote the Tucson.
“Hyundai is a trusted collaborator of Disney, and we couldn’t be more pleased with the ‘Question Everything’ campaign,” said Andrew Messina, senior vice president of Disney Advertising Sales. “We love when long-standing relationships transform and grow, and are looking forward to introducing a first-of-its-kind activation featuring some of our iconic IP.”
Hyundai’s advertising agency INNOCEAN USA, and media agency Canvas Worldwide, worked with Disney CreativeWorks to develop the engaging campaign featuring ABC Studios IP.
This campaign follows the recent collaboration between Disney Advertising Sales and Hyundai to launch the first-ever co-branded augmented reality (AR) series with National Geographic.
