The agency added stick-on flyers to the front pages of the entire 384,000 Straits Times print run on September 8, which directed readers to the September 10 launch event by offering the chance to win S$5,000 (US$2,971) in cash and a brand new Rio. In what the agency claims is a regional media first, each flyer contains a five-digit secret code, thanks to 'confidential variable data-printing technology', whereby each reader receives a special number.
Participants can then use their numbers to try and unlock the 'Rio Cash Vault' at launch events in three locations in the island state. Of the six cash winners, one will also receive the keys to a brand new Rio, the globally relaunched version of Kia Motors' popular four-door value model, which competes with the likes of Hyundai's Getz, Honda's Jazz and Toyota's Vios, in Singapore's highly cluttered automotive segment.
MediaCorp Radio will provide updates and the campaign also includes radio ads on Class 95 and Yes 93.3, along with print ads in Singapore Press Holdings newspapers and magazines, created by Rapp Collins.
"The brand positioning was a 'world of fun', so we wanted people to have fun with the stick-on, and also at the event," said MEC manager Serene Lim. "The biggest challenge is standing out -- there are ads every weekend for cars, and that's the reason we made sure to be different, so that the subsequent ads will resonate well."
Lim added that the contest element would tap into Singapore's fondness for games of chance, specifically the nationwide lottery. "Given the high level of activity in the automobile industry, it is increasingly necessary to continually push the creative possibilities for media," said Mavis Toh, marketing manager at Kia's Singapore distributor, Cycle & Carriage.
