Kia Motors America, in its ongoing effort to shift from
being seen as a low-cost "rational" brand to a more emotionally driven
"fun" brand, has signed on with Univision. The
partnership is around the beauty pageant reality show, "Nuestra Belleza
Latina," of which Kia will be the official automotive partner.
Besides
a season-long, on-air brand
integration with the show, there will be digital activations that
include sponsored challenges for the show's contestants using various
Kia vehicles, with season winner getting the redesigned 2014
Forte compact sedan.
Michael Sprague, who last June
was promoted to EVP of Kia from VP of marketing and communications, said
raising consumer awareness, perception and consideration
for the brand is key. "And sponsoring 'Nuestra Belleza Latina' is the
latest effort to communicate and interact with the Hispanic community in
authentic and meaningful ways," he said, in a
statement.
The company's integration includes
segments in which contestants spend leisure time with a Kia vehicle.
Digital activations include 11 custom pieces for
Univision.com with the contestants, and a custom photo shoot of this
season's winner with her Forte and social media promotion. The automaker
tapped la Punto as Hispanic creative agency back in
2005.
Kia, whose advertising is lighthearted and
offbeat, with Hamsters and grown up toys as starring characters, has
also moved to get the brand in front of younger auto fans who
like to customize cars. The company last month signed a 10-month deal
with DC Entertainment and buff book Super Street. The automaker, which
has been showing off super-hero themed cars for the last
year or so, used the 2013 Chicago Auto Show to show a Superman-inspired
Optima Hybrid. The partnership is to support DC's “We Can Be Heroes”
charitable relief effort to fund efforts to
ameliorate long-standing famine in the draught-wracked Horn of Africa.
The
company unveiled a Batman version in New York last fall, a Green
Lantern-themed Soul, Forte Coup done up
as The Flash, a five-door version of the Forte with a Cyborg theme, and a
Rio with an Aquaman theme at last year's SEMA show in Las Vegas. There
will be an eighth vehicle meant to represent all seven
in one.
Kia, which is launching a redesigned version
of the Soul compact crossover this year also had a big reveal or two in
Geneva last week: the Kia Provo Concept, meant to
suggest where the automaker's design language is heading and a Euro
market compact hatch for the adrenalin set called Pro_cee'd GT.
