South Korean tyre brand Hankook is looking to break with category convention with the launch of a new, pan-European digital platform called “Live your life. Leave tyres to us”.
Developed by creative agency Innocean Berlin, the brand’s tongue-in-cheek campaign aims to be “refreshingly honest” and accepts that most people simply don’t care about tyres.
Prioritising a ‘people-first’ message over a product-first one, the creative introduces ‘Hank’, a retired mechanic and the star of a humorous new content series.
“Our aim is to set the benchmark for tyre communication, and right from our first conversation with the Innocean team we could see they were very much on the same page,” said Lars Herberer, creative lead EU at Hankook Tyres.
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“We love Hank, and this whole platform, and believe it will really make the Hankook brand stand out in a quietly confident way, without the tyre-typical statistics and absolutely no anxiety inducing scenarios.”
The campaign will run across the Seoul-based firm’s key European markets including the UK, Germany and 12 other territories. The social-first series marks Innocean Berlin’s first work for Hankook since securing its account in September last year.
Gabriel Mattar, European chief creative officer at Innocean Berlin, said: “This campaign is a total shift for the category, and that can only happen when a client is willing to take a risk.”
“All credit to Lars and the whole Hankook team for backing an idea that dares to be refreshingly honest. This allowed our team at Innocean to build something with real personality, which will help Hankook really stand out in the market.”
