Hyundai Strives for 'Universal Truth' With Its 4 Super Bowl Spots

This year, Hyundai plans to offer up a little something for everyone, including two celebrity appearances, in its four Super Bowl 50 spots. The ads, created by Innocean Worldwide, touch on humor, fear, compassion and love, and aim to capture the brand's "We make things better" motto while also highlighting new capabilities and technologies. "[Super Bowl Sunday] is a day that you need to be out in front, and there needs to be a universal truth in your ads, and you need to give something for everyone," Tim Blett, COO at Innocean USA, told Adweek. For Super Bowl 50, getting something for everyone meant pulling out all the stops. The brand tapped three all-star directors and two big-name celebrities, Ryan Reynolds and Kevin Hart, to bring the creative work to life. In "First Date," a young man arrives to pick up his date, when Hart pops up at the door. Hart offers to let the young man borrow his new car (the new Hyundai Genesis), which comes equipped with the Hyundai Blue Link Car Finder feature. The car finder allows Hart to keep track of his daughter's whereabouts and humorously reveal himself to the male suitor throughout the evening. Peter Berg of Pony Show Entertainment, known for directing films including Friday Night Lights and Lone Survivor, directed the spot. (Berg also directed the brand's "Ryanville" spot.) The second 60-second pregame spot, "Better," is part of Hyundai's larger branding campaign. Directed by Fredrik Bond of MJZ Productions, the spot opens on a newborn baby. It follows the boy as he grows up and continues to try and make the world a better place. "Hyundai was born to make things better. It's in our blood as well as our brand strategy," Dean Evans, CMO, Hyundai Motor America, told Adweek. "If you're going to make people be more fond of you, you've got to make them feel something inside." The two 30-second spots running during the game both use humor and show off new technologies. The first, "The Chase," opens with a man and woman dashing through an eerie forest, clearly being chased by large, growling animals. Directed by Aaron Stoller of Biscuit Filmworks, the ad shows off the voice-activated remote starter on the new Elantra and how it can be a real lifesaver when you think you're being chased by vicious bears. (Spoiler alert: The bears aren't as scary as you might think.) "Ryanville," the second in-game spot, stars Ryan Reynolds and is slated to run in the second quarter. The ad, featuring the all-new Elantra, opens on two women driving through their neighborhood. They come across a Ryan Reynolds in various scenarios including dog walking and using a jackhammer on the side of the road. The driver, obviously distracted, takes her eyes off the road and relies on the car's safety features to prevent an accident. The brand, which is celebrating its first year as an official sponsor of the NFL, announced it would return to the Big Game after choosing to sit out last year. This marks Hyundai's eighth appearance in nine years. The brand will also set up a war room of 15 to 20 Hyundai and Innocean employees to track social-media trends during the game and will have a series of on-site activations in San Francisco in the nine days leading up to Super Bowl Sunday. • For more Super Bowl 50 news, check out Adweek's Super Bowl Ad Tracker, an up-to-date list of the brands running Super Bowl spots and the agencies involved in creating them.

Brand Marketing

Hyundai Strives for 'Universal Truth' With Its 4 Super Bowl Spots

Taps 3 all-star directors and 2 big-name celebrities

Katie Richards

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Katie Richards