Super Bowl sponsor Hyundai Motor America pulled off an incredible live ad which aired at the end of the supercharged football game.
The company managed to keep their plan a secret, editing the commercial during the game so it was ready to run once the confetti dropped.
The ad “reunites” soldiers stationed at the U.S. military base in Zagan, Poland, with their families watching the big game.
https://youtu.be/P7n-GxJBw1k
Using satellite technology, 360-degree immersive pods and the filmmaking direction of Peter Berg, Hyundai, an official sponsor of the NFL, filmed what it refers to as a Super Bowl documentary as part of its Operation Better. It showed the soldiers experiencing a kind of virtual reality: that they were in Houston watching the Big Game live in a suite on site. But the shocker at the end and shown live just after the game was when it was revealed that—in a twist on the classic soldier-surprises-family—their loved ones were in the suite to surprise them.
The soldiers in the commercial are Corporal Trista Strauch, Specialist Erik Guerrero and Sergeant Richard Morrill.
Hyundai’s ad is part of an effort to support U.S. military which includes incentives and discount programs but also their program to make the world a better place.
“We wanted this year to be an homage to those who actually make the Super Bowl happen,” said Eric Springer, chief creative officer at Innocean Worldwide Americas. “It’s because of our troops that make it possible for a pastor to defend the right to worship. [A man or woman] has a right to take a knee in a game is because of the troops,” he said. “It gets to the soul of a car company that helps to make their lives better.”
Added Dean Evans, CMO at Hyundai Motor America, “We are going to be the hero for the troops. This year, some of the best moments won’t happen on the field. This is how we’re going to do it. The better Super Bowl is going to happen in the hearts of the people who make it happen—the troops.”
He continued, “Even before the political climate this was already in the mill. We just naturally wanted to lean in on a few things—how do we make things better for someone else? Here’s the military, here’s an underserved part of the population that deserves more than ever before a nod to our appreciation of them. That was all coming together before the election results. And now we’re even more secure in that patriotism and bringing people together around our military and what they do for us every day—whether you’re blue or red this cuts right up the center of bringing people together.”
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