Hyundai Motor India has rolled out its first campaign, ‘Deewane India Ka Deewana Humsafar’ since becoming a premier partner of the International Cricket Council. The brand returned as an ICC partner after more than a decade, having been previously associated between 2011-2015.

The 360-degree campaign consists of a film featuring Shah Rukh Khan, based on the Bollywood track ‘Yeh Dil Deewana’. It aims to celebrate fandom across the country by showcasing how fans are engrossed watching key moments in a cricket match, while promoting its Creta.

Virat Khullar, head – marketing, Hyundai Motor India, explained the rationale behind the campaign in a conversation with Manifest.

“The concept of the campaign is about fandom and the people who immerse themselves in the game. It’s not about the players. A lot of advertisers work with players to talk about the sport. We are talking about the country and how it’s driven by passion,” he said.

While the film will be running on the HD channel broadcasting the matches on television, Khullar also added how the brand is betting big on connected TV during the tournament.

“Cricket remains a no-brainer for Indians, and we want to make it very big. For the tournament, Hyundai is trying a first, where it’s going to have ‘contextual advertising’ running on other OTT platforms during key match moments,” stated Khullar.

Explaining the concept, he added, “With VDO.AI, we are going to define certain key moments in the game. At that point of time, an ad will be generated via AI, and it will be thrown across other OTTs and JioStar as well via programmatic feeds. These will be 20-seconder ads telling people that while you may be watching something else, there is an exciting moment in the cricket, and this will be integrated with a story of a car. It’s the first time, it’s happening in any category.”

While tech is being heavily used, Hyundai has also resorted to using radio as a medium for its World Cup campaign, while steering clear of print and outdoor.

The campaign is running across 30-40 cities across radio channels for influencer engagements and the trophy tour, and another dedicated program with Big FM which helps fans win tickets to matches.

“We are also trying to target a lot of people playing cricket in gullies, or small parks across the country and trying to get them to participate in our social contest and know that we are partnering with the ICC. We have contests running which can help them win tickets for the semi finals and finals. For that strata of society, radio is a key medium, and the only medium that can help us reach there,” stated Khullar.

Talking about the role of different media for the brand, “We surpassed the target we had set for getting test drives from the online channels. Almost 45% of our enquiries are coming in from this medium, and around 30% of the business is also from online. These are very good numbers for a high-involvement category.”

In 2022, Hyundai rolled out a campaign featuring Khan and the women cricketers Jemimah Rodrigues, Smriti Mandhana, and Shafali Verma.

The trio and the other women cricketers have risen to fame post the ODI World Cup win.

Khullar stated that while they aren’t part of this campaign, they will be part of the Women’s T20 World Cup campaign later this year.

“We have Smriti and Jemi, and both of them are doing very well and are great for brands too,” he stated.

This is the brand's 30th year in India, and during the year, it will be promoting its flagship product, the Creta. 

Coming back to the plans for the Men's T20 World Cup, which kicks off on 7 February, Khullar stated that the car in its ICE and EV version will be displayed at the matches in stadia. 

Talking about the evolution of the EV market, Khullar said, “From a market point of view, the electric vehicle category has grown to around 6%. There are a lot of EVs being launched in the INR 15–25 lakh bracket. We are happy with the way the Creta Electric’s business results are shaping up; we are beating our projected numbers. It is growing strongly on a word-of-mouth basis. People using the vehicle have not faced any initial issues, which is leading to increased trust.”