A most honorable pitch

StrawberryFrog had a lot of fun working on the Hyundai pitch. We came up short in the final, but are most thankful to the management of Hyundai for including the dinosaur-slayer in one of the most important car pitches in America in a very long time.

We are proud of our thinking, we came up with a very focused strategy and target. We call them truth junkies...an ever increasing group of Americans who want the truth. They seek clarity and from what we learned, they will stop at nothing to bring that clarity to all parts of their world and spread open information. We learned that Hyundai owners are at the vanguard of the truth junkies, and that there are millions more looking to join them...

So us Frogs spent a lot of time living with Truth Junkies. Online and off. Along the way, we discovered that Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, drives a Hyundai. (imagine that. All the information in the world at his fingertips and that’s what he drives. Maybe you should buy one...)

So our head of strategy contacted him in early April. We spoke with him and as we uncovered and created ways to work with this maverick truth junkie, we developed an innovative online campaign using Jimmy. We developed lots of amazing ideas, which could help fan the flames of a true movement of open information AND bring a dramatic change to life for Hyundai. As part of all of those ideas online and off and physical experiences, we also wrote this launch TV spot featuring the inimitable Jimmy Wales. Take a look below.

The Frogs felt good about this pitch, because we have developed very innovative and effective work for car brands. StrawberryFrog was founded with a car client back in 1999, the smart car (coming to the US in 2008). Then we worked for MINI in Europe, and then we won against the biggest agencies in the world for 42-country, Daimler Chrysler Mitsubishi Motors $250MM account.

Hyundai was a lot of fun. Thank you for the opportunity.

***

HYUNDAI SCRIPT

‘JIMMY WALES-COLLECTOR OF INFORMATION’
TV:60

IDEA: Wikipedia is the greatest information source on the planet. And the man who invented it, Jimmy Wales, drives a Hyundai.

MUSIC THROUGHOUT

TITLE: JIMMY WALES
FOUNDER OF WIKIPEDIA, HYUNDAI DRIVER

Open on the founder of Wikipedia, Jimmy Wales, walking down a suburban street. He has a huge swarm of three-dimensional words/facts following him (ie-igneous rocks form from cooling lava; the 11th president James Polk was from Tennessee; Sea monkeys are not primates and do not live in the sea). It’s an amazing sight to behold, but he just takes in stride. He’s Jimmy Wales, after all.

The swarm gets bigger and bigger as words shoot out from surrounding windows, cats, dogs, cars, trees, children, a guy sitting on his stoop with a laptop open… Ideas, facts and every other form of information just seems to be drawn to him. He finally makes it to his car, the Hyundai Santa Fe. He opens the hatch and the words pile in, a almost like children. Jimmy reaches into the Santa Fe and yanks out one phrase that reads “Tomatoes are a vegetable.” Untrue. Waves his finger “no no” at it.

We see one world a ways down the block slowly making its way to the Hyundai.

JIMMY: Come on, you too.

HE PATS THE WORD MOLASSES, HELPING IT INTO THE CAR.

AVO: I’ve made it my life’s work to gather, filter and make sense of the facts.
That’s why I drive a Hyundai.

HE HOPS INTO HIS SANTA FE AND DRIVES AWAY.

VO: Find a better way in life.

HYUDAI LOGO

We see the Hyundai driving down the road.

AVO: It’s all about clarity dude.

Comments

[Dino]

Great stuff Lee.

(they're going to regret their decision)

[gordon euchler]

absolutely love it! great insight. just out of curiosity, could you give me more hints, why hyundai drivers are truth lovers? i assume something like 'because they don't pay for prestige'?

[the great brand-ini]

jaw-droppingly good stuff. spots like this serve as a wake-up call to the entire industry. every sentence of the ad was pure genius, and i'd wager to guess that if hyundai doesn't call (which they will), hollywood might. i know i wouldn't mind watching an entire tv show about that irreverent tomato entry!