Marketing in the times of Covid-19: Hyundai Motor India

• In our latest interview series, we talk to brands to understand how they are coping with the new normal and their strategies towards navigating these difficult times.
• Tarun Garg, Director – Sales, Marketing and Service, Hyundai Motor India. He walked us through the brand’s experience during these adverse times .
• He spoke about all that they have been doing to make sure they stay connected with their audience and make consumer journeys more seamless for the future.

The past year hasn’t particularly been easy for the automotive industry. Even before the Covid-19 induced lockdown hit the economy, the auto industry had been witnessing a slowdown. And things became more difficult due to the lockdown, owing to the complete shutdown of retail outlets.

However, this also became a time for brands to reflect about the future, on how to become more agile and better-prepared to face such adverse situations in the future. It also taught a lot of brands how important it is to put out effective and relevant communication, it taught them the importance and sensitivity and empathy.

Moreover, with gradual relaxation of the lockdown in this fourth phase, businesses and outlets are slowly opening, giving brands hope that things will slowly get back on track.

To understand how it has coped with the last two months and what the next few months and quarters will look like, we caught up with Tarun Garg, Director – Sales, Marketing and Service, Hyundai Motor India Ltd. He walked us through the brand’s experience during these adverse times and spoke about all that they have been doing to make sure they stay connected with their audience and make consumer journeys more seamless for the future. He also talks about the lessons he as a marketer learnt from the Covid-19 experience.

Excerpts:

Q) The auto industry had been witnessing a slump even before Coronavirus hit the world. While it is difficult to predict right now, do you have hopes that the second half of the year will bring some relief to the auto sector?
The automotive industry has been witnessing challenges in recent times, due to current situations it is hard to predict the market response, however we are positive that once the situation normalizes, the second half of the year may bring some relief in comparison to current situation. We have seen some positive movement after partial lift in lockdown and in areas where our dealerships are now operational.

Q) Since showrooms and malls have seen a complete shutdown, how have auto brands like yours been conducting business? Are people still enquiring about cars? How have things been in the past month for you?
Hyundai introduced India’s first online automobile sales platform- ‘Click to Buy’ earlier in January for a seamless, convenient and safe end to end car purchase journey. During this period of national emergency as well, Hyundai is fully geared up to cater to the needs of its new-age digital customers for purchase of new Hyundai cars. All Hyundai models and the recently launched CRETA and VERNA are available on the ‘Click to Buy’ website and this would act as an additional sales channel for over 500 Hyundai dealerships. The platform is connected in real-time across India to fulfill the needs of the millennial generation.

A few studies showed us that people are still enquiring about cars and consuming content about automobiles. We have activated all our digital channels to interact with customers through the digital medium and have started promoting our online car buying platform. We have initiated both online and offline measures for customer enquiries and are witnessing a good response on both platforms.

Q) In adverse times like these, should a marketer stay away from communicating with consumers or should communicate only if he has something relevant to say?
Marketers should always be relevant to the time and customer needs. Our recent campaign ‘Hyundai Cares’ was aimed at promoting messages around maintaining social distancing, staying home and staying safe. The campaign also delivered our message that Hyundai is always standing by India through its ups and downs. We also communicated about our service initiatives and told customers how we could assist them in case of any emergency. We believe that in such adverse times, it is always better to stay relevant while communicating with customers. However, at the same time, the role of a marketer is also to see the future and promote content which can drive positivity.

Q) What has your marketing strategy been in the past one year? Did you have to tweak that further once the pandemic and lockdown came into being?
Marketing is a dynamic subject, it should be relevant to the market needs. Yes, we have tweaked our marketing strategy because of this pandemic with respect to creative, content, media mix and scheduling.

Q) What kind of changes has your media mix seen? Is Digital taking the biggest share now? And do you anticipate yourself sticking to this spending pattern even after the lockdown is lifted?
The most consumed media during lockdown has been TV & Digital. While we stayed away from all traditional media during the lockdown, we did engage our customers over digital media through our website and social. Moving forward, while we plan to stay active on digital through increased investments, we will still be present on traditional media to communicate with a wider audience.

Q) What have your key learnings from this experience been? Will this, in any way, lead to a change in positioning of Hyundai as the brand in the future?
Hyundai has always been a progressive brand and ready to face any challenge. The learning will help us to plan crisis management in a much better way now as we have worked out many innovative ways of working and conducting business because of the restrictions implemented.

Q) Do you think brand purpose takes center stage at times of crisis?
Yes, Absolutely! Caring for humanity has always been at the heart of Hyundai’s vision. As a responsible and caring brand, Hyundai has always been at the forefront that is in line with our global vision ‘Progress for Humanity’. We believe that customers value brands that are always socially relevant and contribute towards the betterment of humankind.

Q) How have you ensured that your communication hasn't been misread as being opportunistic by consumers? Do you think effective communication during adverse times can help win consumer trust?
We, as a brand have never utilized these unprecedented times to push our products. Our endeavor in these trying times has been concerted towards the betterment of the society. Various CSR initiatives taken up by Hyundai include:

• Contribution to PM CARES Relief Fund and to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Relief Fund
• Hand Over of Imported COVID-19 Advanced Diagnostic Test Kits to ICMR
• Strategic Partnership with Air Liquide Medical Systems to augment production and supply of ventilators
• Distribution of Dry Rations, and donation of PPE Kits, Masks & Sanitizers

Further, Hyundai is also proactively bringing ease in all ways possible to our customers’ needs, ensuring safety and welfare of internal teams and extending support and guidance to dealers and vendors through sanitisation programs.

We truly understand our responsibility towards the society and our customers and have reflected the same through our communication during this time. It has been heartening to see that several customers have appreciated our efforts and solutions in these times of critical need that stands testimony to the love and trust India has in us.