Engagement is the Key

Hyundai is launching its first effort in a new marketing strategy, an interactive game called "Mash and Seek." The press release explains that people are invited to submit to be one of the 16 people who will be chosen at random. Those sixteen people will be divided into four teams of four, and then each member will receive a collage-style picture of each member of the team. Here's the challenge: the four members have to find each other before the other teams find their members in order to each win a Hyundai Elantra.

Hyundai has created a website for the competition, www.mashandseek.com, where hopefuls can file to compete. There is little else on the site except for a picture split into four that is animated to show how comical and difficult the activity could be. Hyundai wants for those who do not get notification of being a team member to continue to be involved with weekly "Mash and Seek" sweepstakes quizzes. So, although the "Mash and Seek" site is currently terribly plain, it will probably grow and become more dynamic with constant quizzes and updates.

This game is recognized as a viral execution, where people will be sharing information, posting to Facebook accounts and blogs, and creating personal web pages all in the hopes of reaching their teammates. Hyundai is focusing on a new marketing strategy, as mentioned in an article, Hyundai to Launch Game That's Guaranteed to go Viral, on Marketing Daily. They are utilizing guerrilla tactics with street teams while also pursuing grass roots opportunities. They want to create discussion among the target market of the technologically savvy by engaging them.

Hyundai does not currently have a slogan or tag line, but the theme of its current endeavors is"think smart." In the press release, this is stressed by mentioning the game as "fresh and creative" and a "social experiment." The game calls upon the players to "master the global network" by being "smart" and inciting their need for "discovery." The language oozes of a challenge for the intelligent and web informed.

Right now people may have to put their ear to the ground in a really quiet place to hear anything about the competition, but the game is still young. I imagine that buzz will begin when the teams are actually chosen at the end of April. If all goes well, I should bump into some attempts to contact team members while surfing the web.

Hyundai's Web Site