A controversial Hyundai advertising campaign which gives customers a ‘ticking-off’ over their mispronunciation of the Korean carmaker’s name has accelerated its brand awareness ahead of key rivals.

Research data from YouGov shows that the campaign, through which Hyundai attempts to change consumer’s anglicised pronunciation of 'Hy-un-dai' to the global pronunciation 'Hyun-day' ramped-up brand perception during January.

YouGov said that Hyundai registered the most significant increase in Ad Awareness for January 2023 of all the auto brands it tracks in the UK, making it the Auto Advertiser of the Month.

“According to data from YouGov BrandIndex, which tracks perceptions toward brands daily, the South Korean automotive brand saw an improvement of 13.3 percentage points, going from 5.4 on December 25, 2022, to 18.7 on January 24, 2023”, it said.

Hyundai’s “The Dawn of the New Hyundai” campaign in the UK features a tagline - "If you thought you knew our cars and how to say our name, maybe it's time to think again".