Hyundai x Asphalt: The Electric Race
Hyundai put its EVs on the starting grid of Asphalt Legends, racing into youth culture where gamers already live.
The translation and summary on this page were generated with AI. Some expressions or proper nouns may be translated inaccurately, so please check the English original for the precise content.
AI Translation Summary
To shed its traditional image, Hyundai brought its electric vehicles into Asphalt Legends for a time-limited global tournament. Players raced across three rounds on a live leaderboard, and winners flew to South Korea to drive the real cars. It was the first branded event accessible across every major gaming platform.
Cultural Context
Asphalt Legends is one of the world's most popular arcade racing franchises, where aspirational car culture and status are central to the experience.
Entry Information
Summary
The automotive industry is undergoing a profound transformation, moving from ICE (Internal Combustion Engines) to EV (Electric Vehicles). According to Bloomberg, the global EV category is set to grow 25% between 2024-2025. At the forefront of this shift are the younger generations with a strong preference for sustainable, innovative brands that resonate to their modern values. Hyundai faced the challenge of evolving its perception - from being seen as a traditional automaker to becoming recognized as a forward-thinking, exciting, and desirable brand for the next generation. To capture latent demand, Hyundai went beyond conventional advertising, tapping into the gaming passions of digital-native audiences to create a worldwide virtual race that extended online & offline.
Strategy
Gamers crave more than just play - they live within worlds that blend aspiration and identity. In racing games, cars are not only tools for competition but also extensions of personality and status. Asphalt Legends, a globally recognized arcade racing franchise, thrives on high performance, visual intensity, and aspirational cool car culture. By featuring Hyundai's EVs in a dedicated video game tournament, the brand could resonate with gamers in their own language: speed, design, and innovation. This was not about showing another car - it was about proving Hyundai belongs in the same cultural arena as iconic performance brands. The strategic initiative aimed to elevate Hyundai's relevance in youth culture, merging gaming passion with automotive innovation to create lasting brand affinity.
Execution
Hyundai x Asphalt Legends Unite: Electric Race is a time-limited virtual race that invites gamers to compete worldwide for a chance to win a trip to South Korea and experience the cars in real life. With 3 rounds, players bested their time on a live-ranking system. The event was supported with an amplification campaign (Social media and PR), supported by 12 gamer influencers in key markets: North America (America & Canada), Europe (Germany, France, UK, Spain, Italy), and India (April 2 to April 30 2025). On June 6, 3 winners from key markets flew to Seoul, South Korea to experience the cars on a race track. For the first time, a branded event was accessible across all gaming platforms (PlayStation, Google Play Store, Apple App Store, Steam, and Epic Store).
Results
Through the time-limited event, The Electric Race proved that Hyundai isn't just reliable; Hyundai succeeded in leveraging the game community to resonate with the younger audience with victories beyond the finish line. Awareness & Engagement: Unique Players: 1,877,719 Benchmark (1.2M and target 1.5M) Participation Rate: 22.54% Benchmark (18.12%) Time Spent playing: 15,378,519 minutes equivalent to 30 years driving Hyundai cars In-game billboards impressions 47,015,180 Total impressions: 137 million Cost vs metrics % Impressions: 174% Engagement: 25% Awareness: 13% CPE: 0.77 EUR per engagement CPM: 5.47 EUR per thousand impressions 2025 Brand Lift Survey Brand Affinity: +7 points Desirability: +49% consideration & Purchase intent +47%