industry leading virtual experiences

HYUNDAI

CHALLENGE

When physical brand experiences gave way to the virtual and the hybrid in early 2020, Hyundai needed a cost-effective virtual solution to match the power of face-to-face events.

Their existing marketing ecosystem (social, website, CRM, earned press, digital ads, TV, radio) posed an exciting opportunity - to create a two-way interactive platform that could capture the magic of their brand and products to customers remotely.

THE VISION EXPANDED QUICKLY

I originally pitched the Virtual Experience Centre as a customer-facing platform - an exciting environment to host our virtual events. The idea expanded rapidly during development:

  • Events > Live Streams > On Demand: We set out running pre-recorded events, but they went so well, we then thought ‘what if’ we take a risk and run 100% live events from the platform? We then thought ‘what if’ we make our events available to re-watch on demand? This would give our customers working from home more flexibility and yield higher returns on our productions, with long-form events cut into snackable pieces for customers to refer back to.

  • One Audience > Multiple Audiences: We set out to create a customer facing platform, but then thought ‘what if’ we could share this world with other audiences in our Hyundai UK family, including partners, dealers and employees?

  • Marketing Platform > Integrated Ecosystem: To expand the vision further, we thought ‘what if’ we could integrate content across marketing, PR, product, and our training academy, on both a local and global scale, to drive brand engagement and sales? For the platform itself, we sourced, produced and gained approval of 168 intricate, unique pieces of content for 120 clickable hotspots in the centre.

We continuously learnt from testing, testing and testing, and lots of ‘what ifs.’

EXECUTION

The strategy to launch the Centre was to piggy-back off the excitement around the debut of the IONIQ 5, Hyundai’s first all-electric SUV - and in turn, use the Centre to drive further sales. On the day the car went on sale, we launched our Virtual Experience Centre in beta, and simultaneously hosted a virtual event for the launch of the IONIQ 5. The full-funnel promotional plan included organic and paid social media, CRM, leveraging our partnerships to access their databases, pay-per-click and word of mouth. The event was a huge success, with 98% of attendees tuning in and staying for the entirety of the event – which is far above industry average. Immediately following the event, all customers received a survey, and thank-you note, detailing where they could watch the event - or view it for the first time. The new platform also went live instantly on our website home page.

The launch and user journey were considered and seamless from start-to-finish.

RESULTS

  1. Significant cost savings: By building a custom platform vs. adapting options on the market the business yielded a savings of almost £500,000.

  2. Impactful and sustainable way to reach customers safe at home: We have provided a world of virtual experiences that customers are engaging with - deeply. Since launch (3-months prior) there have been over 120,000 environment views, a combined total of 600 hours of video view time, with a 4-minute average linger time per hot spot.

  3. Investment serving multiple audiences: Using a simple login system, we’re able to open or close rooms to ensure the content is purpose built and resonates with our customers, partners, employees and dealers. It brings our brand together with all its audiences in so many ways that are perfectly in tune with a post-COVID world. There have been an average 4,000 new visitors to the website per month since launch.

  4. Seamless integration across our internal ecosystem: Other internal platforms are directly embedded into the platform to create maximum efficiencies, and each room has been built for a specific purpose. Explore our Global brand heritage in the Lobby, Tour cars in a 3D format, or use our ‘Live Showroom,’ to connect to remote product expert or book an in-person test drive in the Showroom, Watch, or re-watch live events and content from across the business in one place in the Cinema. There have been over 1,000 leads and test drives captured per month since launch.

MY ROLE

As the leader of the Brand Experience team at Hyundai, the Virtual Experience Centre was my vision, which I led from pitch to execution to launch from start to finish with our wonderful agency partners, Fresh.

It was first conceived as a response to the pandemic, yet it quickly grew into something far bigger. It’s an inclusive platform that puts Hyundai UK in a strong position, as we now have a reliable and impactful way to reach and interact with their communities, no matter what the world throws at them and is their vital step into the emerging technology of The Metaverse, where the world is inevitably headed.

Explore the immersive world for yourself at hyundaiexperience.com.