According to a recent article in MediaPost, the 2015 Hyundai Sonata “has lost one striking differentiator: its looks.” Hyundai Motor America sales in October were down 6 percent while the overall sales in the auto industry improved 6 percent. This includes Toyota whose newly designed Camry is making waves in the opposite direction.
The Sonata TV ad campaign launched this summer during Hyundai’s sponsorship of the 2014 World Cup. Hardly a commercial break went by without showing that cute red-haired girl who would snap-roll her fingers, instructing her father to take the car for another joy ride in the spot “Family Racer.” According to iSpot data, Hyundai’s commercial was a tremendous success reaching an Ad Effectiveness rating of 9.5 in an industry where the average score hovers around 5.4. An Ad Effectiveness rating measures how well a commercial did in comparison to other commercials in the same industry. Since June, Hyundai invested heavily in this spot with a total estimated spend approaching $30 million.
However, Hyundai isn’t spending nearly as much in the current run of spots promoting the new sedan. Compared to Toyota, it has yet to spend half as much on spots that have been airing for longer. Since mid-October, Toyota’s push of the 2015 Camry has seen an estimated spend of over $30 million in two distinct creative spots, “The Bucket List Trip” and “Guitar, Featuring B.B. King.”
But when you combine all spend amounts for Hyundai’s 2015 Sonata including our cute red-haired backseat driver, you have a whopping $44.5 million spent on TV advertising – for just one vehicle. So where is Hyundai going wrong? iSpot data revealed that since Sept. 1, Toyota has outspent its Korean rival almost four to one. It is possible current distractions are impeding Hyundai, but it seems clear, according to MediaPost – research firm Millward Brown Digital suggests – Hyundai’s marketing needs a kick-start.