The ad took the 2nd place in the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter ranking

The NFL’s Super Bowl is a huge event watched by more than 102 million people in the United States alone. Even the TV commercials featured during the event generate a lot of buzz every year. With global brands such as Amazon, Coca-Cola and Google competing to advertise, the Super Bowl is the world’s toughest battleground for advertisers. Hyundai and Kia placed ads at the Super Bowl this year, and GENESIS ran an ad for the first time. It received a lot of positive reviews for its humor in particular. However, many non-US citizens were puzzled by the advert.

Hyundai "Smaht Pahk"

"Smaht Pahk" is a delightful representation of the functions of the Sonata’s RSPA using the Boston accent

At the 2020 Super Bowl, Hyundai presented a delightful ad introducing the Sonata’s "Remote Smart Parking Assist (RSPA)." Many American celebrities with links to Boston, namely Rachel Dratch, Chris Evans, John Krasinski and David Ortiz appeared in the ad. Boston is one of Hyundai’s best-selling markets in the US and is known as one of the most difficult areas to park. In the ad, the Boston accent is used, where the "r" is dropped. The accent dates back to when British Londoners who didn’t pronounce the "r" immigrated to Boston and New England to settle. For example, the typical greeting "How are you?" is pronounced as "Howaya?" and "driver" is pronounced as "drivah".

This is why the RSPA function of Sonata "Smart Park" is pronounced as "Smaht Pahk". Dratch and Evans are stunned when Krasinski successfully parks in a space that seemed impossible to park, using the RSPA feature. When Dratch and Evans ask if it is possible to park in other hard-to-park areas as well, the r-dropping in a series of words which have "r," turning "the Harbor" to "the Hava," gives Americans a good laugh.

The plot of Smaht Pahk, featuring a legendary sports star in an ordinary neighborhood, sends a message that the popular Sonata has state-of-the-art technology

The advertisement ends with a credit cookie where David Otis, a legendary Boston Red Sox heavy hitter, looking amazed overlooking the RSPA function of the Sonata from the second floor of a building. Krasinski says to Otis "I’m sorry to surprise such a big star," and asks Dratch and Evans if they knew that such a huge star lived in such an ordinary neighborhood. The ad ends with Evans saying that he had no idea.

By showing how people were not aware of huge sports stars living in their neighborhood, Hyundai is implying that people are not aware of the great technologies in Sonata. The overall construction of the ad is based on an expressive theme with a friendly Boston accent, America’s favorite celebrities, and a legendary sports star for a surprise. It is an excellent advertising strategy that employs a series of implicit themes from various levels, such as the familiar Sonata in everyday life of Americans, the unmatched convenience features with advanced technologies.

"Authenticity was the key to getting the effect we wanted through the advertisement. We casted famous celebrities from Boston and chose local residents as supporting actors. In addition, it was filmed on a street of South Boston with a Boston-born director and even used a popular local sports supporters’ song as the background music, all of which was very well-received."- Barney Goldberg ECD INNOCEAN Worldwide USA

Hyundai "Smaht Pahk"

Kia Motors "Tough Never Quits"

The ad took the 8th place in the USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter ranking

Kia Motors placed an ad featuring Seltos and US NFL star Josh Jacobs at the 2020 Super Bowl. The mood is calm and the message is strong. It is a dramatic commercial featuring a successful athlete and a child actor who plays the role of the athlete’s child version, towards which the childhood character and the athlete’s appearance overlaps. The sequence begins with the young Jacobs running across the back alleys of a desolate ghetto at dawn, the successful Jacobs riding in a Kia Seltos passing by, and then the two of them sitting side-by-side in the same vehicle like a father and a son.

Tough Never Quits expresses the frontier spirit of a superstar's life

Jacobs begins with a monologue: "Sometimes I wonder what I would tell my younger self if I ever saw him". The grown-up Jacobs is sympathetic to the boy and tells him to believe in himself and be tougher than the world around you and push yourself to be someone. At the end, he drops off the young Jacobs in front of the playing field with words of encouragement, "That field is a proving ground. Push yourself to be someone. I promise someday you will." And the scene ends with Jacobs, a star football player, entering the stadium filled with the cheering crowd. This is one of the advertising genres classified as "Inspirational," which is common in the US.

Kia Motors used an advertising genre called Inspirational to inspire people

The ad uses a touching message that inspires people to push themselves. The story of a poor boy from Oklahoma, who overcomes all the obstacles and becomes an American sports star, is inspiring to an American audience, especially young people in difficult circumstances. The theme of this ad is summarized as "Give It Everything" where "everything" means to do the best you can. The United States was founded by people who had experienced hardship in Europe and moved to a new world filled with hopes of a better future and the frontier spirit. Therefore, the stories of those who achieve success after starting with nothing, resonates very strongly with the American people.

Kia Motors "Tough Never Quits"

GENESIS "Going Away Party"

GENESIS ran its first Super Bowl commercial in 2020

GENESIS’ first commercial for the Super Bowl featured one of the most popular couples in the US, John Legend, the singer named by People magazine as the Sexiest Man Alive in 2019 and his wife Chrissy Teigen, a model and author. The theme is about saying goodbye to "Old Luxury" and welcoming "Young Luxury."

Going Away Party has launched an ad that uses luxury's double meaning of luxury and luxury cars

The ad defines old luxury as the following: A guy who thinks his loud suit is a personality, a guy who leans on everyone for some reason. Teigen points out each of them at the party. She gets everyone’s attention by saying "Let’s stop the old luxury. I’ll introduce you to a young luxury". But, Legend does not show up on cue in his GENESIS GV80. At the end of the advertisement, the legendary Tiger arrives at the declining situation with Legend in it. She gets angry at first, but they both drive away gently and say, "Somebody had to make luxury fun. Who better than us." This ad is somewhat complicated and difficult to understand.

First, the word luxury refers to not only lifestyle but premium large cars. In other words, the idea of quitting a party of old luxury has a double meaning, to stop riding an old-fashioned luxury car. When Teigen points out some of the party’s attendees one by one and criticizes them bluntly, this is very typical of her as she is well known for her candid and straightforward attitude.

Going Away Party is a message that it's time to take the new luxury car GV80, not traditional ones

Moreover, Legend not appearing on cue is also a form of rebellion against the old high-class society, criticizing how things have become too rigid and "stuck-up." In other words, the new high-class society is not rigid but relaxed.

Overall, the ad encourages people to depart from old-fashioned luxury and join the new high-class society which is more practical, fun and honest. Ultimately, it is telling people that it is time to let go of over-priced and over-hyped old luxury cars and buy the GV80, a new luxury SUV instead, using a parallel storytelling method.

"The GENESIS GV80 has just entered the market as a new luxury SUV. The two things we focused on were: first to confidently define and shout out our brand’s positioning, and secondly to find cultural icons that could best represent our core idea of Young Luxury." - Bob Rayburn, ECD INNOCEAN Worldwide USA

GENESIS "Going Away Party"

Text. Seong-ha Rhee, Professor of English at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS)