Kia Canada: The Power to Surprise
Kia Canada enlisted Strategic Objectives, Canada’s top PR Agency, to produce a dynamic, integrated PR campaign positioning Kia as a young, vibrant automotive brand with top-tier, national lifestyle media.
Kia enjoys outstanding relationships with Canadian automotive media, but had yet to break into the lifestyle media space and engage with everyday consumers via online news, social media and blogs. Our campaign was rooted in the belief that building memorable experiences results in positive, branded media coverage, and by extension, consumer brand awareness, recall and acceptance.
The challenge
Create consumer excitement for Kia with engaging, memorable brand experiences
The solution
Our PR plan strategically touched Kia target markets across Canada, engaging lifestyle media, and by extension consumers, in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal. We staged exclusive media events one-week before each city’s Auto Show to seize interest and attention from auto media and to introduce Kia to lifestyle, consumer and social media.
We produced three creatively-themed Kia Pre-Auto Show Media Events to showcase the brand’s Power to Surprise:
- Our Canadiana-themed Montreal event paid homage to Northern Fortés, featuring iconic Canadian treats and revealing the all-new #KiaForte5 for the first time in North America.
- The Valentine’s Day-themed Toronto event invited guests to swipe through Kia’s new portfolio, finding their perfect #KiaMatch.
- A Spring Brunch in Vancouver and Calgary, hosted in an airplane hangar, allowed media and influencers to spend quality time with Kia and its vehicles at #KIAxVAN.
We supported the auto show circuit with media relations, tracked lifestyle connections, and facilitated vehicle test rides for lifestyle media. We also conducted Social Media and Media Site Audits for Kia Canada, offering Best Practice recommendations, and produced two videos featuring Kia’s NEW Telluride and Forte5 for auto and lifestyle media.
Kia Power to Surprise results crushed industry standards and exceeded our campaign goals. Media coverage was 100% positive. PR positioned Kia as a player in the lifestyle space far beyond its established automotive community.
Client Comment: “The Kia campaign was so much fun to be a part of and the fact that SO was able to pull it off in the face of many challenges was monumental”
The results
Kia's Power to Surprise
- 130M+ Million Impressions
- 460+ Media Stories
- 100+ Relationships Generated
- CPRS Toronto ACE Awards 2020: GOLD, Special Events and Experiential Marketing for the #KiaMatch Event
- IABC/Toronto OVATION Awards 2020: Award of Excellence in Special and Experiential Events and Promotional Writing, and Award of Merit in Media Relations for the “Kia Match” Event
Results
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