Mumbai: INNOCEAN India, the creative agency partner for Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL), has launched a new campaign celebrating Hyundai’s 30-year journey in India by revisiting the iconic SANTRO Xing ‘Mr. Kim’ commercial, while showcasing the brand’s evolution from its legacy models to its current and future mobility portfolio.
The campaign also marks 28 years of Hyundai’s association with actor Shah Rukh Khan, recreating key elements from the original SANTRO Xing advertisement and bringing them into a contemporary narrative featuring the Hyundai CRETA ICE and the all-electric IONIQ 5.
According to the company, the campaign has already generated nearly 25 million views with a 35% View Through Rate across Meta and YouTube since its launch, highlighting the continued effectiveness of nostalgia-led storytelling in building consumer engagement in an increasingly fragmented media landscape.
Building on the strong recall of the original SANTRO “Mr. Kim” commercial, the new campaign connects Hyundai’s long-standing relationship with Indian consumers and Shah Rukh Khan to the brand’s transformation over three decades. It also reinforces Hyundai’s transition towards electric mobility by integrating the CRETA ICE and IONIQ 5 into the storyline.
The film builds suspense through a phone call from Hyundai Motor India Managing Director Tarun Garg, a sudden network interruption, and what appears to be the end of Hyundai’s long-running association with Shah Rukh Khan. The narrative then circles back to the original SANTRO Xing campaign, recreating familiar moments before revealing Hyundai’s next chapter with the IONIQ 5.
The creative concept was developed by revisiting the original SANTRO Xing script and reinterpreting memorable elements such as the “Mr. Kim” exchange, the iconic “contract is now over” dialogue, the surfboard sequence, and the distinctive conversational style. INNOCEAN India collaborated closely with Hyundai’s marketing team to preserve the emotional recall of the original campaign while making it relevant for today’s audiences.
Commenting on the campaign, Jaeho (Jaden) Yoo, CEO & Managing Director, INNOCEAN India, said, “Thirty years is a hard number to do justice to in a single film, especially with a brand and a face as loved as Shah Rukh Khan’s. Our starting point wasn’t ‘let’s create a nostalgia campaign’ – it was ‘how do we make people feel the weight of three decades without it feeling like a history lesson.’ For us, that’s the job of good creative in a moment like this: not just to inform people that thirty years have passed, but to make them feel genuinely happy that they have.”
Sharing insights into the storytelling approach, Santosh Kumar, COO, INNOCEAN India, said, “Once we had that thought, the challenge became structural – how do we build a story that had warmth, a bit of drama, and genuinely felt like it belonged to Hyundai and Shah Rukh Khan’s own journey. Building the campaign let us do exactly that – create a moment of real curiosity first, and then land the actual celebration with impact. It’s a good example of thinking about a milestone as a piece of storytelling craft, not just a moment to mark.”
Speaking about the milestone, Virat Khullar, Head, Marketing, Hyundai Motor India Limited, said, “Thirty years in India is more than a milestone for Hyundai, it is a celebration of enduring trust and meaningful relationships. This campaign brings together Shah Rukh Khan, who is associated with Hyundai since the beginning, with the unexpected presence of our Managing Director to create a story that is both authentic and deeply human. While it honours our journey over the past three decades, it also reflects Hyundai’s vision for the future, driven by innovation, smart mobility and an unwavering commitment to enriching the lives of our customers.”
The campaign reflects INNOCEAN India’s culture-led storytelling approach by combining nostalgia, consumer insight, and contemporary brand messaging. By reimagining one of Hyundai’s most memorable advertising campaigns, the agency seeks to bridge the brand’s three-decade legacy with its future ambitions in connected and electric mobility, while celebrating one of the longest-running celebrity-brand associations in the Indian automotive industry.
