Hyundai Makes Their Benefit Shine

Hyundai relied on the Super Bowl and Kevin Hart to make a new benefit of the Genesis shine. In a humorous parody of the angst that comes with a daughter's "first date" and the slogan "a dad's gotta do what a dad's gotta do," the commercial relies on humor to make the benefit of their car finder feature a key differentiator in the crowded mid-size sedan market.

"Benefit" based positioning is the meat-and-potatoes of brand marketing strategy. Create a new feature and tell the world how it can solve that nagging problem. In this case, Hyundai used humor to demonstrate how they resolve a very real concern that parents have, knowing where your teenage child is when they're out and about. Although "benefit" positioning is a mainstream strategy, it can be very effective when uniquely resolving a real customer need, and the differentiating power of this strategy lasts as long as competitors are unable to satisfy the need better.

In a previous post we highlighted the creative use of "attribute" positioning by Honda. "Attribute" and "benefit" positioning can appear to be similar, but you'll notice in the Honda example that the feature Honda highlights in promoting the Ridgeline isn't linked to any particular benefit for the consumer. The feature is the attraction and the benefit the customer receives is driven specifically by their own preferences and needs.  You can check out the Honda post below.