2020 Automotive News All-Stars

Angela Zepeda has held the top marketing job at Hyundai Motor America for just over a year but she has been involved in its ad campaigns as a former executive at the brand’s agency of record, Innocean, starting in 2016.

As a member of the Hyundai marketing family, Zepeda knew the brand’s history of blockbuster Super Bowl ads and set out to make some history of her own.

Zepeda, 54, steered this year’s campaign during the big game that starred Boston-area celebrities playing up their distinctive accents to tout the Smart Park feature of the redesigned Hyundai Sonata sedan.

According to third-party metrics, the ad was No. 2 on the USA Today ad meter, was the highest-performing commercial overall on Ace Metrix and garnered more than 55 million views across YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The Boston pronunciation of the parking feature, “Smaht Pak,” was on the lips of millions of Americans for months.

When the coronavirus hit soon after, Zepeda and her team went into overdrive, launching a slew of brand promotions to stimulate sales and reassure consumers. They included a revival of the Shopper Assurance program to help consumers make payments in case of job loss and the “Click-to-Buy” retail program for no-touch vehicle shopping.

Zepeda also steered the launch of the redesigned Elantra sedan, partnered with the Museum of Latin American Art on a drive-in art installation in Hollywood, oversaw LGBTQIA+ marketing as the official automotive sponsor of the Los Angeles Outfest film festival and introduced the Hyundai Women in STEM Scholarship program.