A friend recently told me he replaced his Lexus with a Hyundai. I thought, “Dude! A Hyundai?” Then he took me for a ride. Wow. What a car. His new Genesis drives great. Comfortable. But more than that, the fit & finish and materials are world class. And the stereo is nothing short of amazing. Seems like they thought of everything.

Hyundai is doing it right. They started with the consumer and are building cars that people want to drive. A quick read of Facebook reveals that their customers can’t stop raving about them. In fact, JD Power named them #1 in initial quality, ahead of Honda and Toyota.

Great product is the foundation of a great brand. But Hyundai didn’t stop there.  Their marketing boss, Joel Ewanick said “It’s important to keep our foot on the gas even in a down economy.” He did– They increased spending by 58% and launched aggressive promotions including guaranteeing gas prices at $1.49 and even offering to take your car back if you lose your job. Talk about listening to your customers’ concerns.

A few years ago, Hyundai’s were a joke. In the worst economy since forever, the big three lost 29% in sales while Hyundai improved by 6% and gained 28% in market share. I doubt their competitors are laughing now.

What’s the lesson? Pay attention to your customers. Deliver products they want. And talk with them about things they care about.

Branding is becoming more and more about listening. It’s working for Hyundai. I bet it works for you and us in 2010. Happy New Year,
Ged King, President

This entry was posted on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 8:08 am and is filed under Inside TSF. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.