-       14-country paid media campaign across Facebook and YouTube

-       Achieves significant uplift in brand favourability and recognition

-       ‘Long Live Driving’ campaign celebrates the spirit of adventure

-       Most successful online marketing campaign ever by Kia to accompany launch of all-new Stinger fastback sports sedan

Frankfurt, 13 July 2018 – Kia Motors has successfully used social media channels to bolster recognition and positive perceptions of its new flagship model, the Kia Stinger, according to a Facebook brand lift study.

The Kia Stinger fastback sports sedan went on sale at the start of 2018, and was praised by automotive media for its driving performance and for offering something completely new from the Korean brand. Kia turned to social media to build anticipation for the introduction of the new model with an unprecedented pre-launch social media strategy. The campaign was carried out across 14 European countries during the final quarter of 2018, with Kia delivering three video adverts across Facebook and YouTube – and producing two longer edits for fans of the brand:

·         Film 1: https://youtu.be/kdb4h5zC4Ts

·         Film 2: https://youtu.be/cccZaM2pd-E

·         Film 3: https://youtu.be/Anv1gsmHEos

·         Long-form film: https://youtu.be/WHzzrttF8k8

·         ‘Director’s Cut’: https://youtu.be/9gREnqMtRbY

The campaign was developed with Kia's creative lead agency Innocean together with Herren Der Schöpfung and media agency Havas. Each of the videos portrayed a Stinger owner ticking off exciting experiences from a ‘bucket list’ of adventures, including cliff-diving in Scotland, visiting the famous La Tomatina festival in Spain, and becoming a DJ for a night in a famous Berlin club. The ‘Long Live Driving’ films show the Stinger taking to European roads in the driver’s search for adventure.

Not only did the strategy successfully increase familiarity and favourability towards the new Stinger – but it also boosted perceptions of the Kia brand at the same time, according to a Facebook brand lift study commissioned by Kia.

Across Europe, Kia’s campaign achieved a greater lift in advertising recall among social media users than in any previous Kia campaign, with an instant boost to favourability among audiences towards the new Stinger and the Kia brand as a whole.

The campaign was particularly successful in Germany and Spain, where Kia achieved a 14- and 13-point lift in advertising recall respectively. Germany also saw a 7-point lift in favourability towards the Stinger and a 6-point lift for the brand as a whole. Kia Motors Iberia witnessed an 8-point increase in favourability towards the Stinger among target audiences. Combined, the audiences for the three videos from Kia Motors Europe were larger than any prior campaign from the brand, with several million people watching the films.

Matt Kidd, Media Strategy Manager at Kia Motors Europe, commented: “This was our first centrally-driven, pan-European campaign on Facebook. We were very happy with the outcomes, as our strategy had a positive effect on awareness and favorability among our target groups. Additionally, the test of a bot for Messenger highlights our willingness to try new formats to engage with audiences in a way that suits them.”