Hyundai Motor India (HMIL) has onboarded actor Pankaj Tripathi as its brand ambassador, adding to its lineup of stars that includes a longstanding partnership with actor Shah Rukh Khan and Deepika Padukone (onboarded in 2023).To spotlight the new association, the South Korean carmaker has rolled out a 360-degree integrated campaign, ‘Loge Toh Hyundai Hi, Chahe Dil Ki Suno Ya Deals Ki’, featuring Tripathi. Aimed at capturing early consumer mindshare before the onset of the festive season, the campaign taps into Tripathi’s widespread appeal, especially among OTT audiences. 

Manifest caught up with Virat Khullar, head - marketing, HMIL, to delve into the rationale behind the association, how Tripathi’s persona aligns with the brand’s ethos, the campaign’s core messaging and TG, and its role in deepening Hyundai’s regional connect.

Edited excerpts:

What was the strategic thought behind choosing Pankaj Tripathi as brand ambassador? How does this new association complement Hyundai’s previous partnerships?

We've indeed got very strong, iconic brand ambassadors already, including Shah Rukh Khan, who has been with us for more than two decades, and Deepika Padukone, who came on board two years ago. That said, we are a company with a large range of products, services, and announcements to make. So we've been looking at getting in a new face for a more tactical outreach, with a strategic view towards the demand generation pillar of marketing.

And we know from the consumption side that audiences who are primarily car-buying are moving towards CTV, and absorbing a lot of OTT content. 

The OTT market, according to a recent report, is expected to double by 2028, compared to 2023 figures. About six to eight months ago, we asked our agency to identify a face from the OTT space. (Innocean Worldwide is Hyundai's creative agency, while Havas Media Group serves as their media agency.) And Pankaj Tripathi stands out as one of the top, if not the top, personalities or actors in the domain. Not only because of the roles he's done, but because of the sheer versatility and the connect he has with audiences across India. And it's been a pleasure working with him so far. He is a very creative, humble, and genuine personality. If one sees the campaign, one would realise that, when he breaks the fourth wall and talks to the consumer, there is an instant connect.

Would we also get to see both SRK and Tripathi come together in any of the forthcoming campaigns?

Nothing's immediately on the charts along those lines yet. Our last campaign had Khan and Deepika together, and now that they are all a part of the Hyundai family, one never knows. However, parallely, we also have projects currently in the kitchen with both our other brand ambassadors, and one will see them coming out in the next six to eight months.

Last April, Hyundai Motor India launched ‘Grameen Mahotsav’ with a mission to deepen its roots in rural India. Does this association with Tripathi help cement that connection? What percentage of your total sales does rural account for?

Our sales from the tier two, tier three towns are rising as a contribution to our overall sales. More than 20% of sales come in from these regions, and it's only growing. We are doing a lot of outreach, like localised, hyper-local programs, in non-urban areas. But having said that, while Tripathi essentially comes from the heartland, he also appeals to a lot of the top echelons of the country. A lot of that consumer base, which is also our car-buying consumer, is absorbing his content, and is looking forward to his releases, and he has tentpoled with a lot of OTT players. So it's not only about reaching out to the heartland. I think the content that he participates in is very connected to the spirit of the country, connected to the insides of regions and households.

Our television campaign is also nuanced about buying a car, getting the car home, neighbours walking in to see the car, and then there’s a nice conversation on what is better and what is not. That's another reason why we picked Tripathi: He brings in light-hearted humour while being reliable and trustworthy. This matches Hyundai's brand values in the country.  

Hyundai's campaign, ‘Loge Toh Hyundai Hi, Chahe Dil Ki Suno Ya Deals Ki’ featuring Tripathi.

What were the key consumer insights that shaped the messaging and tonality of this campaign?

We wanted to have an insights-driven campaign that connects with the hearts of the consumers. For anybody who buys a car, even today, it's a high-involvement product. It is a representation of one’s status. The consumer insight, very clearly, is that a car is a big symbol for every household - an occasion to celebrate and talk about. The campaign showcases the banter that happens when two new cars have come into the neighbourhood, around which car is better with better features and better deals. The family is part of the entire decision process, so we have shown children on both sides who are happy with the purchases made by their father.  

We've been launching a lot of firsts in India across our cars over the years. As Hyundai cars are predominantly strong on technology and features, our campaign says that while you have the trust, the love, and the technology of Hyundai, now you will also have great deals and offers on our car. Hence the slogan that reads, ‘Chahe aap dil ki suno ya deals ki, you will buy a Hyundai’. It's a very good insights-based communication by our agency, which talks about our trust of two decades in India and the deals that are on offer. And the whole point of launching this campaign in the month of June was that why wait till the festive season when one can secure an early mindshare? 

How have you structured the media mix for this campaign across traditional, digital, and emerging channels? Will there be a strong regional language play given Tripathi’s pan-India appeal?

This is a full-funnel campaign. The lion’s share of the budget will go to TV, especially in regional and HSM (Hindi-speaking market) regions. We also have a strong presence on CTV and digital platforms, because that’s where our audiences are -and as I mentioned, Tripathi has significant relevance for them.

Additionally, we have on the cards a 40-city radio plan, featuring the actor’s voice, which will soon go on air. There’s also a robust print campaign in place. All of this is being transliterated across languages. We've already completed this for seven regional languages, and it will be further tailored for each state. It’s a localised, insight-driven plan, set to go live this week. Wherever our TG is consuming media, the campaign is designed to meet them there and create a strong connection. This is one of our most ambitious campaigns of the year, and we’re aiming not only to drive demand in June but also to build momentum leading into the festive season.

Which consumer life journey is the campaign trying to tap into - is it focused more on emotional storytelling, functionality, or lifestyle aspiration?

In India, buying a car is still seen as a lifestyle aspiration, something people look forward to. With this campaign, we’re aiming to evoke the sense of status and achievement that comes with purchasing a brand new car. That’s the underlying nuance of the commercial. Tripathi brings the brand front and centre by breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the consumer, highlighting not just the trust the brand stands for, but also the wide range of benefits it offers. The radio campaign is also clear and direct in its intent: to drive footfall to our showrooms.

We’ve also created a range of quirky, engaging content for social media, which will go live over the next two weeks. We understand that the first quarter-end of the financial year isn’t traditionally a high-activity period for auto marketers. That’s precisely what makes this campaign exciting—it’s different from the norm. Our goal is to disrupt the market, break through the clutter, and build momentum not just for June, but for the months leading up to the festive season. It's all about differentiating and connecting with the consumer. And this is the first step with Mr.Tripathi, and we already have a two-year association signed with him. So yes, we're looking forward to a lot more magic coming the consumers' way in the days ahead.

Does this new campaign cater to the younger, digitally-native demographic, or is it targeted more towards the family audience?

We are trying to target families and our consumption audience more. We've got two children in the campaign, thus directly targeting families - maybe single-car or double-car households, who look for car purchases more deliberately, not the digital native so much. It is targeting the breadwinners and the decision-makers within the family. So yes, this campaign is not so much on the youthful, digital-native side. It is more tilted towards households and families.

In an earlier interaction, you mentioned how women are increasingly emerging as decision-makers during the purchase of a vehicle for the family. How are you looking at targeting this demographic?

So in our media purchases, we are looking at adoption done by females. It is a very large and important part of our planning. While this specific campaign does not feature one, we've got Deepika (Padukone), Smriti Mandhana, and a whole lot of female faces that have helmed our campaigns. But, yes, a lot of media targeting will happen there, because we believe they are not only important in influencing but also very key to the decision-making.

How is Hyundai evolving its brand playbook and overall marketing strategy in India to stay culturally relevant in a content-overloaded market?

It's not an easy task to target one’s TG amongst 1.4 billion people. We do a lot of 360-degree marketing work on the demand generation side to build awareness, consideration, and intention. And then with our consumers, we do a lot of on-ground activations to build fandom and brand love. At the top of the funnel, we have a partnership with impact properties - TV and on the ground. At the bottom of the funnel, we have a very strong, always-on digital play to get hyper-local leads to our showrooms. So it's the full funnel we are looking at, we monitor very strongly the market situation, and based on that, we will invest at the right stage of the funnel. As of now, this is one of the differentiated campaigns that we are launching, with strong offers and a strong ATL cover, given so that our business objectives are met.

Do you use consumer feedback or digital listening and engagement analytics to refine your ongoing campaign narratives?

Absolutely, we have a very strong ORM (Online Reputation Management) strategy in place. We closely monitor sentiment, tracking the positives, negatives, and neutral responses, while benchmarking not only our own campaigns but also those of our competitors. We analyse engagement across all relevant posts, so social listening is very key for us to see what campaigns we should do. It helps us understand which campaigns we should pursue, measure the success of past efforts, and gauge how consumers are reacting in specific geographies, at specific times of the year, to the triggers we’ve introduced. So yes, ORM and social listening are a part of our daily job and a very strong input to our creative team.