MEET THE WOMEN ON THE FOREFRONT OF THE NEW HYUNDAI CRETA AD
How you stand out in the competitive SUV market has just taken a bold leap in a new direction with a sizable, devoted number of female customers. Hyundai and Senior Marketing Manager Katleho Mahapa decided to invest their ad spend where their loyalties and values lie – with women.
Recently, Hyundai launched a new enhanced model of the Creta. Inspired by the brand’s positioning of the Creta to promote equality, the campaign aims to highlight the inequalities women face, and celebrate all the key qualities that make women special, explains Katleho. Communicating the deeper message of this campaign meant practicing those values in every aspect of the commercial.
“The journey working on the Creta campaign is quite delicate because of the subject matter but it’s also been very fun to work with a team that could collaboratively come to a point where we have meaningful insights that we feel we can share with our consumers,” she explains.
Through the positive message of the ad campaign, the team hopes to leave a positive impact in their consumers’ lives. And this job was a dream for ad agency CEO Monalisa Sibongile Zwambila.
“Being a black female owned agency working on a pro female brand was really just remarkable for us,” she says, “we needed to develop a piece of content that would really be quite defining in terms of how it positions women and their role in society.”
“First and foremost for us always is ensuring that we work with the right team and internally, we have a passionate team of creatives and writers who have really poured their hearts and souls into creating this TV commercial,” explains Monalisa.
“What you are seeing is a piece of beautiful work that has been really created by women,” she exclaims, “to partner with the brand that authentically believes in being pro-women and that shows up in the work and the people that they’ve chosen to partner with [is] amazing.”
Film director Gale Maimane is known for her offbeat raw approach and a style that looks for the deeper moments. She was fortunate enough to find them on this set.
“I was interested in the message, it’s quite rare that a car brand chooses somewhat of an altruistic standpoint in creating marketing for themselves,” she says. As for the sheer opportunity that comes with filming big brand name vehicle commercials, Gale gave us a key into how it allows her to grow personally.
“Car ads are not things that women get to do very often so for me… I wanted to do it because I think it’s interesting that their positionality is wanting to empower women,” explains Gale, “it’s still difficult because at the end of the day, the kind of workspace we’re in is one that’s dominated by men so it’s not been easy, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it.”
That approach gets a high five from composer Thandi Ntuli, who is now working on her second commission for this famous automaker.
“In terms of creating a song for a campaign, it’s a little bit different from the process of writing your own music because you’re telling someone else’s story,” she says. It is still a process that she is grateful to be a part of.
“[When] you’re creating something, you’re creating a world that’s going to be an experience for someone else who receives it,” explains Thandi, “it’s almost like magic because when you’re done with the whole process, somehow a person feels it and you translate those emotions, that story.”
If a songwriter knows anything, it’s to get it done when inspiration strikes or risk losing the moment. As band leader of this campaign, Katleho won’t let that moment drop.
“It’s been interesting working on the communication for the campaign, we wanted to add a meaningful conversation around gender inequality in a way that would leave a positive impact.”
If we learn about what’s fair and just from anyone in this life, it is from the women in our lives, and we owe it to them to make this a more equal life for all women.
