In the summer of 2018, Hyundai launched the all-new Veloster. Perfect timing for a partnership with Marvel Studios and their new film, Ant-Man and the Wasp, the highly-anticipated sequel that premiered in July. Sharing strikingly similar target audience demographics, Ant-Man and Veloster made a perfect cross-promotion match, leading to Hyundai’s big screen debut as the hero vehicle in the hit movie’s action-packed chase scene. With a cool twist. Just like Ant-Man, the Veloster could shrink and grow at will in a superhero-like way. To celebrate Hyundai’s huge moment in pop culture, we created the tiniest partnership in the world. Then generated the biggest impact possible with the most scalable campaign ever: the Hyundai “Ant-Ads” campaign.

The ability to shrink and grow at will is Ant-Man’s superhero power. In Ant-Man and the Wasp, inanimate objects could size-shift as well. Including the Hyundai Veloster. Which allowed characters driving the car to blast into and out of scenes, shrinking and growing as needed to evade danger and escape pursuers - making for exciting action sequences. And an unexpected, yet totally relevant, core idea for our work. With license to adopt Ant-Man’s superhero powers, we applied size-shifting capability to our campaign, creating “ant-sized” messaging — including tiny print ads — that seemed to hide in plain sight. Discovering the ads in the whitespace margins of comic books created fun, entertaining interactions for fans. And a deeper brand connection, as if they’d entered an ant-sized universe. One that reinforced the “logic” of the Ant-Man storyline in a believable way, making the ads feel like a natural extension of the movie.

Recent market research found that 45 percent of the people who bought the original Veloster model bought another Hyundai as well. With the launch of the all-new Veloster, we wanted to leverage that “halo effect” on younger buyers, growing consumer loyalty among the vehicle’s core target — millennials skewing slightly male, with an affinity for excitement and individuality. The core audience for Ant-Man and the Wasp was strikingly similar: 15 to 30-year-olds, skewing slightly more male than female, who like Ant-Man’s narrative style, humor, supernatural occurrence, and action. They love the energetic, no-holds-barred attitude of the Marvel franchise. Exemplifying those same traits, the Veloster aligned perfectly with the mindset of millennial Ant-Man fans, who we sub-categorized into three groups: rabid comic book fans, die-hard Marvel Cinematic Universe fans, and general action movie fans. Focusing each execution on at least one group, every message prompted fans to visit HyundaiUSA.com.

Two factors led to a unique print execution opportunity for our Hyundai Veloster launch campaign. First, Ant-Man being a popular Marvel comic book made advertising in those publications a no-brainer — even though car advertisers rarely do. Second, the Veloster featured in the Ant-Man and the Wasp movie could shrink/grow at will like Ant-Man. With this superpower at our disposal, we applied it to our print ads, shrinking the entire campaign down to “ant-size.” But we saw an even bigger opportunity. Instead of simply placing our tiny ads in traditional print ad spaces, we negotiated special permission with Marvel Comics to totally invent a “new media” space — placing our Veloster ads in the whitespace between the story frames of popular Marvel comic books. Not only did we surprise fans with our unexpected “Ant-Ads,” we gained credibility with a critical audience by maintaining the “logic” of Ant-Man’s superhero power.

All combined the “Ant-Ads” campaign grew Hyundai’s brand sentiment 77%. It generated 1.4 billion impressions, while increasing Hyundai social mentions 88%. All of which translated into quantifiable sales sheet ROI — actual dealership traffic increased 150%, leading to an amazing 10% YOY growth in Veloster sales. Ant-Man and the Wasp did all right, too. Premiering at #1 the week of its release, the movie went on to earn an 88% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Ultimately, it grossed over $622 million worldwide, making it an exceptional Marvel Universe franchise for Hyundai to have partnered with, leading to exponentially more exposure for the Veloster launch than a traditional paid media campaign could generate.