KIA Motors:
X–traordinary journeys
KIA had built brilliant financial success, but with a fundamental shift in design and quality of its manufacturing, it wanted to elevate its brand to become a more premium competitor than the ‘squeezed middle’ of volume car sellers. So we created super-emotional journeys from Dead Mums to flying cars.
“well, you’re here now. When it really matters, you’re here.”
Insight
Most cars share the same silhouette, the same features, even the same OEM parts. So it’s harder and harder for brands to differentiate their models from other carmakers’. This is known as the ‘Pretty Good Problem’* – fundamentally, it’s hard to buy a ‘rubbish’ car these days, so the only real differentiator is the power of its brand. So how does Kia stand out?
Cars are not a ‘tool’ like, say, a washing machine or lawn mower. We form deep attachments to our cars, make them part of the family – even name them.
When we unpacked this attachment it was clear that cars become beloved because they share emotional journeys with us. They were there to get us to the hospital on time, or to leave home to go to university.
By focusing on Kia not as a tool that gets you from A to B but as a partner who joins you on life’s journeys – the journeys that really matter – we could help build that brand attachment.
*Steven Berlin Johnson
The work
‘Mudlumps’ is a ten minute comedy film written by CCO Darren Smith. On this journey we watch a dad try to engage his kids in the world outside the car windows, rather than staring endlessly at their smartphones/tablets, with the help of some weird little creatures.
In UNSAID, a 10-minute drama scripted by our CCO Darren Smith, we follow a long-suffering architect son as he struggles to reconnect to his pretty overbearing mum.
This balloon installation was an epic collaboration between Mandy Maker and legendary typographer Alan Kitching, with photographer Tim Kent capturing the final image.
Here’s a sneak peek behind the scenes as we put together the floaty balloon image. Not to be confused with Pennywise the clown – our balloons are yellow. And fun. And nobody gets eaten.
Here’s our CEO Sachini and her Mum in the Brecon Beacons. Sachini’s mum came to the UK from Sri Lanka as part of the ‘Windrush generation’, and studied nursing in Merthyr Tydfil (just the other side of that mountain on the left). This journey by Kia was the frist time she had come back to Wales in over 50 years.
In a fully inegrated campaign, we demonstrated that Kia’s cars were the perfect partner to take you on the journeys that matter. We collaborated with three artists to create stunning installations, including this epic Neon installation by artist Mandy Maker.
Here’s a peek behind the scenes of our epic art installation by Parisia street artist Astro and about 47 cans’ worth of (CFC-free) spray paint.
The launch of the Kia XCEED gave us the opportunity to create a humungous artwork by Parisian street artist Astro, who spent two days apinting an entire wall for us to burst the car through. (Not literally, though – the insurance premiums would have been ridiculous).
The results for this campaign were nothing short of spectacular – even though we do say so ourselves. Consideration for the Kia range doubled – and then doubled again. For the Kia Optima – featured in our UNSAID short film – it increased by over 1500%.
Speaking of the film – it received over 140,000 views online in less than a week – and over 52% of those that watched it completed it.
And the campaign more than paid for itself – Kia reported a sales increase of £2.2m that could be directly attributed to our campaign. I guess it really did matter, after all.
“We’ve never seen campaign results like these before. Ever. You are miracle workers.
But now we’ve used this space to explain why we have this space, and that’s not entertaining at all. So here’s a joke:
Me: “i’m terrified of those big empty spaces people yell into.”
Therapist: “A void.”
Me: “Good advice, thank you.”
