Hyundai Eon: India on line

The communication idea, which focusses on the digital medium, was built around establishing the Eon as the befitting car for emerging India, where the youth call the shots.

In a bid to promote its latest small car Eon, Hyundai carried out a slew of marketing initiatives, with particular stress on the digital front to create a buzz before the launch. Digital was combined with various above the line (ATL) communication such as print, electronic and out of home (OOH) advertising, as well as some rigorous below the line (BTL) activities. Hyundai's creative partner, Innocean Worldwide, designed and executed the initiatives.

Eon is targeted at young professionals and executives in the age group of 24-25 years, hailing from urban India. The heavy emphasis on the digital medium is in line with the media habits of the young target audience, from the metros and upcountry, as well. Hyundai attempted to tap the growing penetration of the broadband and mobile internet market.

Talking about the brief for the activities, Vivek Srivastava, joint managing director, Innocean Worldwide, says, "We were asked to use a rather contemporary approach to reach out to consumers from the launch build-up phase itself."

He adds, "Research conducted by us for the brand over the last three years has consistently provided us with cues which indicate that other than mileage and space, the importance of style as a determining factor has increased significantly, not just in higher segment cars, but in entry level segments as well."

Hence, the communication idea was built around establishing Eon as a befitting car for emerging India, where the youth have the decision-making power.

Saurabh Dasgupta, executive creative director, Innocean Worldwide, says, "The creative idea centred upon Eon as a 'life changer' for the target audience in a compelling manner. The style quotient of Eon was pumped to competitive superiority, and the aim was to give Indians their new 'drive'."

While advertising Eon, the agency showcased the idea that this car meets the aspirations of youthful India and played around with the brand's tagline 'India On'.

The pre-launch activity started with a teaser campaign from October 1, and eventually culminated in a launch communication on October 13.

Hyundai leapfrogged various digital possibilities to engage with the prospects rather intently as the car is intended towards youth who are well-versed with the digital medium.

"A full throttle presence on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and a dedicated microsite were abetted by keyword search marketing and banner displays. The microsite offered the visitor an opportunity to have a personal car unveiling," says B Sridhar, director, media and digital services, Innocean Worldwide. The responses from the teaser phase were constantly monitored by the agency.

In addition to this, print innovations were carried out in various national and regional dailies, with specific emphasis on innovative sizes. On the television front, the campaign was run on many GEC channels. The initial duration of the commercials was 60 and 40 seconds.

The activation and engagement strategy for the brand looked towards creating some marquee set-ups in high footfall areas across the top 40 compact car markets. Eon Experience Theatres were set up to bring alive the car's winning aspects like style, mileage, space and safety in a catchy manner, in various malls across the country. All activities started simultaneously with the ATL campaigns on October 14.

The car segment is seeing a renewed thrust by Hyundai Motors India (HMIL) to gain greater volumes of the young, first-time car buyers as the Indian economy leaps ahead with a GDP growth averaging around 8.5 per cent. Hyundai's Eon considers Maruti Suzuki's Alto and General Motors' Spark as its primary competitors.

As claimed by the agency, the Facebook page of Eon already has more than 50,000 likes in less than a week, and the microsite, www.eonindiaon.com, has already clocked 2.5 lakh unique visitors.