Our client and their challenge:
Hyundai were looking to increase brand awareness and preference. Through activating their sponsorship of the Mercury Prize, the aim was to reach potential customers and incorporate the Prize’s reputation for credibility and innovation into their own.
To do this they wanted to deliver innovative, unique music content that touched on the themes of the Mercury Prize, featured the shortlisted artists and reached the fans who follow the artists and Prize.
As title sponsor, Hyundai had the highly valuable opportunity to work with the 12 shortlisted artists to create unique content. However, as no artist was obliged to work with the sponsor, the challenge was to come up with an approach that inspired and persuaded the artists to take part. Our concept had to fit their image and respect their work, resonate with fans and effectively communicate Hyundai’s brand values.
Our process and solution:
We created an integrated campaign based on a discussion of the album format – where does it stand in today’s music scene? Each campaign element, piece of content and partnership would contribute to this discussion.
The campaign was designed with a consistent visual and audio style throughout. Each piece of content released had an animated “signature line” designed into the collateral that represented a sonic snapshot of a moment from a shortlisted album.
The signature line also featured on the takeover of the Piccadilly Lights screens. The Hyundai Mercury Prize dominated the screens on the night of the awards, counting down to announce the winners, Wolf Alice, as they were announced, as well as as utilising the space to feature shortlisted artists and campaign content in the run-up to the awards.
We developed partnerships with Boiler Room, The Guardian, DIY magazine, Bauer Media and Absolute Radio to produce content and gain additional reach and authenticity for the sponsorship. Building on our previous collaboration with Boiler Room in 2017, we produced three performance videos and a series of supporting social media cuts featuring shortlisted artists Wolf Alice, Sons of Kemet and Novelist. The resulting content was highly engaging and widely shared by fans and artists alike.
Supporting content included Sons of Kemet, Lily Allen, Jorja Smith, Everything Everything, Wolf Alice and Novelist contributing interviews, performances and opinions on innovation and the album format.
We also wrapped Hyundai Santa Fe’s in the shortlisted album covers, chauffeuring the artists in them on award night. Several artists shared pictures of them on Instagram, boosting campaign reach further.
The result and the impact:
Distribution used owned, earned and paid channels. We massively exceeded all targets set by Hyundai, benchmarked against the previous year:
• Hyundai secured a 94% increase YOY in share of voice
• Our campaign gained a 47% increase YOY in total impressions
• We drove an overall positive uplift in brand perception YOY (IPSOS research)
• #HyundaiMercuryPrize hashtag usage +82% YOY improvement on 2017
Client testimonial:
The campaign developed by Big Group perfectly encapsulated the shared values between Hyundai, the Prize and the music industry, aligning innovation and creativity in an engaging narrative.
Susannah Jacques, Senior Manager, Brand Experience, HMUK
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