Kia sees itself as a car brand for the young at heart and now it’s taking that youthful exuberance and applying it to a new campaign that’s all about ‘Driving Change.’
The carco’s new brand platform follows a lengthy product offensive that resulted in a spate of product-focused advertising. Kia felt that following that activity, the time was right to launch a national campaign centred on the brand itself and how it’s changed in terms of quality and design, and how social responsibility has become a key focus.
‘The goal is basically to get out there with this new campaign, drive change, and communicate to the public that Kia has changed on so many different levels, just in terms of product, design [and] social responsibility, and do it in a unique way that will get people’s attention,’ says Mark McCash, national marketing manager, Kia Canada.
To that end, the advertising accompanying the ‘Drive Change’ platform, which Kia developed with the Toronto offices of David & Goliath and Innocean Worldwide Canada, is weaving two initial CSR projects into the creative.
The campaign, which kicked off today with a TV spot seeking to enhance brand perception, documents Kia’s changes in terms of quality and design by extolling the virtues of the words ‘drive’ and ‘change’ and how they can be powerful when used together. It will be followed by two time-lapse spots, captured over a 15-hour period, which document two different community refurbishment projects. The first was coordinated by the Second Base Youth Shelter in Toronto, and sees a virtually unplayable basketball court completely revitalized.
A second spot features the restoration of the grounds at the Gilder Avenue location of Toronto Community Housing, which includes the creation of a common green space with a sitting area and sustainable gardens. In August, Kia is set to implement a similar project with Toronto FC and launch a fourth TV spot promoting the release of the of the 2011 Sportage.
Online ads and social media (via a Facebook page, Twitter profile and YouTube channel), as well as billboards, cinema ads and print ads in newspapers and magazines, are also part of the media mix, which was managed by Toronto-based Zenithoptimedia. Kia wants the ‘Drive Change’ platform to be a corporate focus moving forward and plans on maintaining the platform indefinitely.
‘We want this to be a long-term strategy that helps communicate the Kia brand,’ says McCash. ‘We’re hoping that ‘Drive Change’ is something of a Kia mantra for the foreseeable future.’
