When SRK drove Hyundai into hearts and minds of millions in India
When SRK drove Hyundai into hearts and minds of millions in India
As Hyundai Motor India set for its drive to Dalal Street, brand ambassador Shah Rukh Khan drove Hyundai cars in ads, his films and into the hearts of millions of Indians since 1998, marking one of the longest partnerships in Indian advertising.
Roughly 98 minutes into the romantic film Chalte Chalte, Shah Rukh Khan drove into a parking lot packed with fancy cars in a Hyundai Santro, with leading lady Rani Mukherjee.
Rather nervous SRK tells the valet. Be gentle with my car. It’s a small one and might get lost”. It was 2003 Hyundai Motor India’s seventh year in India and fifth with SRK, its sole brand ambassador since 1998 who continues to endorse the brand today.
Hyundai Motor India roped in SRK as its brand ambassador in 1998, two years after setting up shop in India in 1996. The first ad SRK did was for the ‘Tall Boy’ hatchback Santro. This was when the South Korean brand was looking to make a space for itself on Indian roads, which was then dominated by homegrown players such as Maruti Suzuki, Tata, and others.
The idea to rope in Shah Rukh Khan was to create awareness on this unknown company and build a certain level of trust. At that time around he was on top of his game, but more importantly, Santro was being positioned as a family car. SRK represented typical Indian values — he was a good boy, anchored in Indian family values, which was good for the brand. As per Anand Narasimha, brand consultant, academician and former VP for Saatchi & Saatchi, Delhi, the entire strategy was to make people look at Santro through the eyes of SRK.
Saatchi & Saatchi was the agency behind the Santro ads back then and Narasimha led all the operations for the account between 2002-06.
A key clause of SRK’s contract was that if any of the films produced by his Red Chillies Entertainment had a car in the storyline, they were to use Hyundai cars. For movies made by others, it was a product placement.
Like, three years after Chalte Chalte, when the carmaker completed 10 years in India, SRK was seen driving a Sonata in a high-octane car chase across beaches, narrow bylanes and highways of Mumbai in Farhan Akhtar’s Don: The Chase Begins Again (2006).
In 2011, when Akhtar made the sequel Don 2: The King Is Back, SRK was in another car chase driving a Hyundai car. This time he was chased in the newer version of the Sonata in Berlin by his ‘jungli billi’ (wild cat) Priyanka Chopra on a Santa Fe.
In 2016, the carmaker partnered with SRK’s Fan as a sponsor —marking 20 years in India—with the Grand i10 and Creta featured in scenes set in Delhi and London. Another notable mention is 2008’s Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, where SRK’s character is seen purchasing a bright yellow i10, dancing and telling the world and mostly himself that ‘haule haule ho jayega pyaar’ (Slowly slowly you’ll fall in love).
SRK and Hyundai Motor India have grown from strength to strength together over the years. Both had their share of ups and downs, challenges, and competition, but the partnership has stood the often punishing test of time. “Hyundai and he are old-fashioned people. We believe in the institution of marriage… so it has been a long marriage,” SRK told Storyboard in 2017, on his partnership with the carmaker.
Although, SRK faced back-to-back box office failure in 2016-18, which made him take a nearly half a decade-long sabbatical from acting, his association with Hyundai Motor India remained unaffected. He was seen in all their major campaigns like
‘Be A Better Guy’, ‘myHyundai app’ and ‘Samarth’. He was always there at marquee events like Auto Expo, making big announcements and doing his signature pose, gently reminding people that he was still around and was still ‘Hyundai’s oldest employee in India’.
A former colleague once joked that SRK may not seen in films, but he’ll always be seen at Hyundai events. True story. As of now, it won’t be surprising if he’s there at the bell-ringing ceremony too.
SRK’s close to three-decade-long partnership with the carmaker is rare in a country like India, where brands, products, and preferences evolve fast.
Narasimha went on to add that sometimes endorsements involving Bollywood actors often become a ‘khichdi’ at the end of the day, you don’t remember who is endorsing what. In the case of SRK and Hyundai has been a very rare one where in the Indian context, where a celebrity and brand have had such a long association,” says Narasimha.
But what made this combination click and most importantly last this long, as per Narasimha, the credit for this rare, long-lasting partnership goes to all three parties — Hyundai, SRK and Saatchi & Saatchi, which suggested SRK’s name and brought it all together. He says, “SRK had a great sense of commitment towards Hyundai and Santro and it was a two-way street. Hyundai was committed to him, which he reciprocated. He remembers on many occasions, he would go out of his way and go the the extra mile. Be it still photography or any other aspect, he was totally involved with the work and would contribute as much as he could”.
SRK-Hyundai is one of Indian advertisement’s greatest and most enduring stories. It’s a testament to how two entities joined forces to create ads and campaigns that resonated with the country and became a strong part of the sociocultural zeitgeist. Now as the carmaker gets ready to drive to Dalal Street, and start a new chapter as a listed entity in India, it’ll be interesting to see what lies ahead for both the company and its brand ambassador.
News Edit KV Raman
