Hyundai Taps Oscars to Kick Off Disney Advertising Alliance
Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Among the movie stars slated to make an appearance during ABC’s telecast of the Oscars: a young Mickey Mouse and Princess Jasmine. Hyundai Motor America will run a 60-second commercial during the awards program that links its vehicles to Disney characters in no small fashion. Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, Princess Jasmine and Aladdin and the “Steamboat Wilie” version of Mickey Mouse all make appearances in the spot, which was crafted with Hyundai’s ad agency, Innocean and Disney’s own creative team. The famous song “When You WIsh Upon A Star,” from Disney’s Pinocchio, plays throughout. “We want to connect with audiences in a very emotional way” says Angelea Zepeda, the automaker’s chief marketing officer, in an interview. “We haven’t done that very well in all the years we have been in the U.S. We have been a little cold. We tried to sell our sheet metal and didn’t’ tell how we care about them as consumers or how we can affect them in their day to day lives.”