Typical automotive walkaround content on YouTube has become, well, boring. They focus on specs, diagrams, and technical language. It’s hard to watch, and even harder to remember.
But the all-new Hyundai IONIQ 9 is anything but typical. As the first three-row EV from Hyundai, it combines impressive range and fast charging with a spacious, intentionally designed, high tech interior that allow families to connect and explore in a whole new way.
So we asked: what if the IONIQ 9 walkaround videos wasn't something you watched, but something you experienced?
Instead of filming a traditional vehicle walkaround video, we turned the IONIQ 9 into a fully interactive escape room competition, and the car itself was the prize. Every puzzle, clue, and surprise was tied directly to a real feature of the vehicle. Instead of listing capabilities, we let families discover them. Instead of explaining V2L, we made it essential to solved the challenge. Instead of talking about space, we filled it with action.
To build hype around the series, we created a set of social-first teaser posts designed to be as fun as the Escape Garage itself. One featured the super “What Not to Do in an Escape Garage,” using bloopers and funny outtakes from the YouTube series. Another used the super “POV: Your family entered the IONIQ 9 escape room,” pairing highlight moments from the show with cheeky, lighthearted music to set the tone.
We also developed interactive social posts that invited fans to play along. One post hid clues directly in the caption, leading fans to uncover the official release date of the series. Another showcased the IONIQ 9’s pulsating interior lights flashing in Morse code, and anyone who decoded the message received a surprise-and-delight reward. We also created a pinch-and-zoom image carousel that turned a single post into a scavenger hunt, guiding fans through different parts of the vehicle with prompts like “Zoom in on the steering wheel,” ultimately revealing the message: Escape Garage Coming 8.14.25.
Each episode on YouTube followed three real families: the Laenos, the Muzios, and the Rowdy Family. Each brings their own personality, fanbase, and energy to the competition, creating a mix of humor, heart, and suspense. The challenge is simple: each family has 24 minutes to escape. A time limit that mirrors the fast-charge time of the IONIQ 9.
To pull audiences in, we created a layer of interactive social content that acted as its own puzzles. These posts didn’t just promote the show, they played with it. Fans decoded Morse code, pinched and zoomed to find hidden clues, and solved puzzles in the comments, all leading them to the full YouTube episodes and unlocking surprise-and-delight moments for the fans that participated along the way.
By transforming viewing into participation and turning product education into gameplay, the IONIQ 9 Escape Garage hacked the category, creating walkaround content as category-leading as the IONIQ 9 itself.
With over 2.4M views, 8.7K engagements and over 38k hours of watch time, the campaign had a 569% increase over our average benchmark. The Escape Garage turned a standard vehicle walkaround into part competition in a social experience that didn’t just tell people what the IONIQ 9 could do. It let them play with it.
