Asia-Pacific Power List 2020: Wonhong Cho, Hyundai

Wonhong Cho

EVP, global CMO and chief customer experience officer
Hyundai Motor
Korea

The scope of CMOs has shifted dramatically in recent years as many take on roles related more closely with performance, technology and customer experience (CX). So it is with Wonhong Cho, Hyundai Motor’s global CMO responsible for brand strategy, marketing activities and creative work, but also its chief CX officer, who oversees all customer-brand touchpoints—from digital engagement to dealer and service interactions. And customer-centricity, Cho notes, is becoming increasingly more important as digital transformation efforts are accelerated as a result of COVID-19.

A global management consultant by trade with a focus on corporate strategy, innovation and marketing before joining Hyundai, Cho might on paper be suspected of being a slave to spreadsheets and efficiency. Yet that would be entirely off-base. As one who eschews cookie-cutter campaigns in favour of live events, cultural partnerships with art museums and experiential wonders like Hyundai’s development of 'Motor studio' museums, Cho is willing to make bigger bets on lasting impressions, as he did with Hyundai’s stark, jet-black pavilion designed by a superstar architect at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics two years ago. Such strong aesthetic sensibilities earned Hyundai the brand of the year award from Red Dot for communications design.

But don’t confuse high design with elitism. Hyundai Motor’s refreshed brand direction around ‘Progress for Humanity’ is aimed at taking mobility to the next level on behalf of everyone. Cho says that means ‘people’ must now be considered the brand’s top priority in every activity it does, which means doing the right thing for not just company owners, but users and wider communities.