CASE STUDY: Kia and The Croods promote the new Carens

Background

Due to a lack of significant design updates, awareness of and interest in the Kia Carens model had waned since it was first introduced in 2006. A redesigned model of the MPV (multipurpose vehicle) was set to debut this year.

Aim

Kia’s primary objective was to achieve product awareness and launch momentum of the all-new Carens amongst family audiences four months ahead of the vehicle’s actual mid-year launch. The campaign aimed to promote both the Carens and Dreamworks Animation’s new film, ‘The Croods’, to family audiences worldwide. 

To highlight the vehicle's style and family-oriented features, Kia chose branded entertainment, in effect making the car an actual character in an original side-story adventure.

Challenges included balancing the creativity and suitability of the campaign, as well as getting Kia’s local subsidiaries and distributors to adopt the global campaign and execute it at a local level, according to the brand.

The integrated marketing campaign launched on 1 Feb and has spanned 25 markets worldwide—including Indonesia, the Philippines, China, and South Korea—reaching consumers through TV, print, digital, outdoor, online and extensive in-dealer activation.

An original co-branded short video titled Meet the Carens, created by DreamWorks Animation and Kia Motors’ advertising agency Innocean Worldwide, in collaboration with The Croods’ filmmakers, took viewers on a Carens-powered getaway ride with the titular characters as they escaped the wrath of a Bearowl, one of many imaginative creatures featured in the film.

The video was featured on Kia Motors’ website, YouTube channel and Facebook page, which offered fans two interactive Facebook apps, Your Social Footprint, featuring a stylised Croods infographic about fans’ Facebook activity, and The Carens and The Croods Photo Booth, which allowed fans to superimpose faces from their Facebook photo album onto character cutouts.

Kia also released a 30-second TV spot and a 60-second spot for theaters across markets where the Carens is sold.

Result

The campaign is ongoing, scheduled to run through 31 August.

During 22 March to 29 April, local market adoption of the campaign reached 100 per cent. The Carens and Croods global microsite received 1.17 million pageviews and 811,193 unique visitors. The Facebook page received 140,374 views and 110,386 unique visitors.

During 26 March to 1 May, the peak monthly active users for the Facebook app measured 159,021.

Through 3 May, the YouTube channel received 10.3 million views, 1,011 ‘Likes’, 124 ‘Dislikes’ and 150 comments. The worldwide box office of the film was US$ 479 million.

CREDITS

Storyboard creation DreamWorks Animation, Innocean Worldwide
Production DreamWorks Animation
Final editing Innocean Worldwide