The Hyundai IONIQ 6 was the next step in Hyundai’s electrification of the product line up... and a foundation of their growth strategy for the future.

Hyundai’s Super Bowl brief for the IONIQ 6 had one simple instruction: “win” the big game. As well as one giant catch: Hyundai would not be running an IONIQ 6 TV spot during the Super Bowl.

Without the boost of a TV spot in the game, Hyundai needed to find smarter ways to connect with electric vehicle shoppers. Research revealed a big strategic insight that broke the code:

92% of Hyundai's electric vehicle buyers are mobile-first consumers.

The team believed that the IONIQ 6 could achieve the audience breakthroughs required... but only by building out a robust digital and social content attack.

The IONIQ 6 target was built around customers interested in electric vehicles — a rapidly growing audience. Incorporating Hyundai’s brand target over the electric vehicle audience then helped the team identify those most receptive to IONIQ 6 messaging.

With “winning” the Super Bowl as a brand objective, the team built a ceding strategy that aligned with not having the Hyundai spot run in the game. Audience behavior studies revealed that nearly half of the IONIQ 6 target saw the Super Bowl spot on digital platforms in addition to linear — and 21% never saw the ad on TV at all. This gave Hyundai more evidence that a digital/social ceding strategy could deliver the massive impact that would put the brand on top!

Three weeks before the Super Bowl, Hyundai splashed the IONIQ 6 front-and-center EVERYWHERE; debuting on TikTok with an IONIQ 6 made entirely of chocolate.

It was a vast departure from standard automotive launches relying on picturesque settings. The chocolate IONIQ 6 instead kick-started a flurry of social activity, embracing content trends (for ex: the IONIQ 6 hero spot featuring Kevin Bacon was immediately followed by a range of creators reacting to the ad itself).

With each successive post, Hyundai stacked entertaining content and amplified it across high-profile digital placements, including YouTube’s Masthead and Top Feed placements on TikTok and Meta.

And while the competition was spending big on Game Day, Hyundai followed the research. 76% of Americans watch the ads the day *after* the game on digital platforms; therefore, Hyundai secured all high-profile ad placements to guarantee IONIQ 6 was top-of-mind when voting for the best Super Bowl spots began.

The day after the Super Bowl, fans across the country voted Hyundai as the winner of the YouTube’s Super Bowl AdBlitz… without the brand even having an ad in the Big Game!

Hyundai enjoyed so much chatter across social that the brand scored:

• 110MM Views on TikTok

• 142MM Views on YouTube

• 1.44B Social Impressions

• 344M Social Engagements OVERALL!

And all of these stats added up to make Hyundai the returning Super Bowl Champ… the brand’s strategy earned it a 20% lift in favorability and increased awareness for the totally new IONIQ 6 by 35%.