Normally, any ad promoting something called Remote Smart Parking Assist would be a snooze. But when Boston celebrities John Krasinski, Rachel Dratch, Chris Evans, and David Ortiz band together to promote “Smaht Pahk,” you get Hyundai‘s funny Super Bowl commercial.
Parking in Boston is no easy feat, and Evans and Dratch don’t think Krasinski can fit his 2020 Sonata into a tiny space. But he isn’t fazed, getting out of the car and activating Hyundai’s self-parking feature. The actors, in their best Bostonian accents, talk about all the places in Boston you can use “Smaht Park,” with Ortiz entering into the conversation from an surprising spot. As another nod to Boston, the song “Dirty Water” by the Standells plays near the end of the ad.
Hyundai was looking for a catchier way to talk about its new technology. “Remote Smart Parking Assist was difficult to say and remember, but a truncated ‘Smaht Pahk’ caught on when one of our creatives said it in a Boston accent,” Angela Zepeda, chief marketing officer of Hyundai Motor America, said in a statement. Available on Hyundai’s Sonata and Nexo vehicles, the parking feature allows the car to park itself without the driver needing to be inside the vehicle. Drivers can also use the tech to back the car out of a parking spot. All you have to do is push a button on the key fob.
