Flagship · Competitive intelligence and AI
Hyundai: when the EV market broke, the intelligence the CMO took to the CEO
Hyundai’s leaders had more data than answers. I built the competitive-intelligence system behind every weekly leadership review, and prototyped The Brain, an AI analyst that drafted the executive narrative in minutes. Innocean’s media department worked like Hyundai’s own marketing department, so these reads fed the CMO’s decisions and the plans he took to Hyundai’s global CEO for approval.
- 1Aug 2024
- 2
- 3
- 42026
- 5
1 for what he inherited · 4 once our system took hold
The CMO’s rating of our reporting by 2026, up from 1 in August 2024
- Role
- VP, Media Intelligence, Innocean USA, Hyundai Motor Group’s in-house agency
- Timeline
- 2023–2026
- Scope and team
- Hyundai, Kia and Genesis, accounts carrying more than $1 billion a year in media · four analysts
- Methods and tools
- Atlas, the competitive-intelligence platform we built on Databricks and Tableau · share of voice and share of impressions · The Brain on Microsoft Copilot
- My part
- I owned Atlas and the report set, built the first reports hands-on, designed the weekly review and prototyped The Brain; each analyst then owned a brand’s reads
Part 1 of 3The challenge
Five record years, then tariffs, then the EV credit vanished
- Q4 2023My workI join; our competitive system starts on Hyundai
- Aug 2024HyundaiA new CMO rates the reporting he inherits 1 of 5
- Apr 2025US25% tariff on Korean-built cars, later cut to 15%
- Sep 2025USThe $7,500 EV tax credit ends
- Oct 2025HyundaiIoniq 5 sales −63%, hybrids +41%
- June 2026My workOur portfolio analysis informs the shift of support to hybrid SUVs
Hyundai went into 2025 on five straight record years in the US (Electrek). Then the ground moved: a 25% tariff on Korean-built cars in April, later cut to 15% (CNBC), and the end of the $7,500 federal EV tax credit in September. A month later Ioniq 5 sales were down 63% and Hyundai’s hybrids were up 41% (Electrek).
The question for the CMO, and for the plans he took to Hyundai’s global CEO, was where the media money should go next. In June 2026 leadership shifted marketing support from EV models to hybrid SUVs led by the Palisade, a decision our model-portfolio analysis informed. Hyundai posted the best first half in its US history, with hybrids up 71% in the second quarter (Hyundai). Many things drove that. Our part was making sure every weekly decision started from the same read of the market.
With spend, TV, search, site and sales data spread across a dozen tools, where could Hyundai still win this week, and what should it do about it?
Where do we rank on spend?
Are shoppers seeing us when it matters?
Toyota led U.S. auto spend throughout our tracking, and when Hyundai slipped below the top three in share of voice, the CMO felt it looked weak. We can’t control what rivals spend, but we can control how visible Hyundai is. I added share of impressions to the review, shown below, and the buying team moved some late-year linear TV to streaming partners for extra reach in key sporting events.
Two ways to read the same months
- No. 1Toyota
- No. 2
- No. 3
- No. 4Kia
- No. 5Hyundai
Fifth. It looked weak.
- NFL
- No. 1Hyundai
- No. 2
- No. 3
- NBA
- No. 1
- No. 2Hyundai
- No. 3
First and second where it mattered.
Same months, two measures. Fifth on spend, but seen most in the NFL and second in the NBA. The CMO took this view to the global CEO.
Part 2 of 3The work
The machinery: a report library, paced by sales
- 01Quarterly readQuarterly
What are competitors doing?
Every rival ranked on spend, impressions, programming, messaging and model mix. - 02Performance to targetMonthly · YTD
How are we doing?
Spend, impressions, search and site actions against target, with competitive context. - 03PulseMonthly
Where do we stand nationally?
National share of voice and the message mix behind it. - 04BattlegroundsMonthly
Where can we still win?
Market-by-market pressure for dealer-association plans. - 05TV creative rankingMonthly
Which spots should run?
Attention and engagement scores behind the ad-rotation schedule, planned monthly and adjusted as needed, and the client meeting where Brain analyses, like the ad-length study, were presented.
One source of truth, five reports that each answer one question, and a weekly review where sales pacing decides which reads matter. Drawn from the real reports; no Hyundai data shown.
Three pieces, built in order
01
One source of truth
I interviewed every team that used competitive data, matched our research tools to Hyundai’s competitive set and put budgets, spend, messaging, search and sales in one place: Atlas.
- My part
- Owned Atlas: metrics, vendor strategy, specifications and roadmap. Merged three contracts for one research service into one, halving the fees.
- Team
- Three of my four analysts ran the reports built on it, one auto brand each.
What to seeSpend, messaging, search and sales for every rival, in one place. Every report in the library below was built on it.
- 1Budget, spend, messaging, media mix, search and sales views in one suite
- 2Filter by period, national or local, region and audience
- 3Hyundai beside any rival in its core competitive set
- 4Brand versus sales-event messaging, month by month
02
A report library on a fixed rhythm
Each report answered one question: a quarterly competitive read, a monthly performance-to-target report, Pulse for national share and messaging, Battlegrounds for regional markets, and a TV creative ranking.
- My part
- Designed the report set and the weekly review; ran a keep, cut or change audit of the reports in 2025.
- Team
- Produced the reports for Hyundai, Genesis and Kia.
What to seeRead page one top to bottom. One headline, four themed summaries, then every rival ranked on the same measures.
03
The Brain: narratives and CMO briefings, in beta
During its 2026 beta, The Brain, the AI analyst prototype I built, turned the latest reads into executive narratives in minutes instead of days, and drafted the CMO’s briefings for regional dealer-association meetings. Briefings moved from quarterly to weekly as the market tightened. How I built it →
- My part
- Conceived it, built the prototype and ran point on the build-out.
- Team
- Extended the prototype while I ran point.
What to seeOf seven automakers, only Hyundai told a full story across 60s, 30s and 15s. The Brain drafted this read in its beta test.
Part 3 of 3The impact
A dozen data sources became one weekly read
One source of truthAtlas: budgets, spend, messaging, search and sales for every rivalFive reportsEach answering one leadership question, monthly or quarterly
EVs → hybridsResultOur analysis informed the June 2026 shift to hybrid SUVsThe insightHyundai couldn’t control what rivals spent, but it could control what shoppers saw. Fifth on spend, Hyundai ranked first and second in live-sports impressions, and that became the CMO’s view all year.
What leaders did with it
Set budget levels by model, dealer-association rotations, creative rotation and regional plans from the week’s reads.
Took the share-of-impressions view to the global CEO and kept it as his position all year. When the buying team swapped part of a planned linear TV buy for streaming, Hyundai’s share-of-impressions rank improved.
Moved dealer-association TV rotations from Elantra to Santa Fe on a model response matrix I built, after Kia passed Hyundai for No. 4 in share of voice.
Increased support for Palisade, then in June moved from EV ads to hybrid SUVs. Kia’s redesigned Telluride spent heavily from the Winter Olympics on. My team tracked Palisade against it in a weekly read for the marketing director and in the CMO’s monthly governance review, recommended more Palisade support before June, then guided the TV and streaming rotations and aligned every team on the plan. Hyundai’s global CEO made the June call; our analysis informed the discussion.
These reports show our strategy is working to drive demand into the funnel and clarifying where our growth opportunities are.
Outcomes
Business context, not our work alone: record first half for Hyundai, with 450,568 U.S. sales, up 3% (July 1, 2026); Palisade up 15% in Q2; hybrids a record 29% of August volume (Sept 1, 2026).
Beyond the caseMore from this work
Parker Posey, Lil Jon and John Krasinski sold the new Palisade
My team tracked the Palisade Hybrid launch against its rivals, and our monthly creative report rated each spot, which guided which ones ran where. The campaign beat the search engagement of Hyundai’s record Santa Fe launch and put Hyundai first in its competitive set for TV ads driving search.
Creative by Innocean’s creative team (Posey, Krasinski) and Culture Brands (Lil Jon).
