Hyundai's new compact SUV Kona launched a new category for the brand with a different kind of audience: young adventurers who value experiences over things. So we set out to connect with them through stories of like-minded people—social influencers and local Hawaiian islanders who live life purposefully, the Kona Way—on the platforms they actually use every day.
We invited ten social influencers to Kona, Hawaii, to embark on personal journeys in the Hyundai Kona. In addition to the influencers' own content sharing discoveries with their audiences, we captured three special stories in a docuseries, "Kona Way," created, not for TV, but for our YouTube channel, where our audience is more likely to watch video content.
Together, the campaign shared with the social world what the Hyundai Kona is all about: that life is less about more, and more about the moments that really matter.
With over 42,302,516 impressions and 17,140,377 video views, the Kona Way campaign exceeded its target goals and generated 2.3x more social engagement than the Hyundai benchmark. Though the Kona SUV was a completely new model with no previous name recognition, it exceeded its sales goals by 5% in the first year.
