Kia Soul as a Combination of Economy and Facility - Case Study Example

Kia Soul Ad Essay 22ndJune, QussaiAlnassir ENGL106 Essinger 6/21 Kia Soul Ad Kia Soul Kia Motors was introduced to the world in theyear 1944. In their initial years they produced bicycles and their first product was introduced in the market in 1957. The first brand mark was created in 1964 when they also celebrated their 20 years of existence in the market. The initial symbol was the representation of wheel. The company started their gasoline engines in 1973 and in 1975 the first automobile was developed and introduced to the customers. Since the 1970s the company has introduced many automobile models. KIA brand name was established in 1994, it had been 50 years into the existence of the company and they had also started their global trade across all the regions. More models were developed each year and in 1999 the group of Hyundai and Kia Motors was developed. In 2002 the company broke the mark of producing 10 Million units. Over the years Kia started to introduce its plants all over the world and formulated its Headquarters in US in the year 2009. In 2009 Kia also introduced its Soul model to the world with the establishment of its US Head office. They have won various awards over the years (Nudd). Kia Soul is a combination of economy and facility, the car was first shown to the world in 2008 in automobile show that was held at Paris. The Soul was designed at U.S headquarter and was designed under the team expertise of Peter Schreyer and is assembled in South Korea. 2009 was the first year that the car was presented to the customer for sale and use. Over the years the company has established different models. At the time KIA Soul was introduced to the market the only competition it had to face was from the automobiles produced by Nissan and Scion. Nissan and Scion produced models that had their attractive features at the same time they lacked other and Kia was the model that was the choice of many customers, because of its soft shape and vital inner features. Kia Soul Ad The first pictures shows of a fat hamster trying to exercise his way to fitness, alongside the hamster and fitness the second picture shows a car designer to trying to make a new and improved model of a car, the third picture is the transformation of created model into a designed model, the fourth picture is the transformation and the new product in the market and the fifth is the linked to the first picture where the hamster was working hard to become fit, and the efforts has been paid of reflected in the last picture. The two things simultaneously shows that one can achieve anything if right efforts are placed into the work. In the beginning of the ad, they show three fat hamsters who want to get smart, in order to get smart they make a thought process, starting with running on the beach, to the gym, and treadmill, yoga and ending with swimming. Once they have done the physical exertion they go to the parlor to get themselves all cleaned up. In the end they enter to a public event in which they are reflected as the stars. Alongside the transformation of the hamster, the ad shows the story of a person who wants to build a car, the initial design, which is further transformed into a model car, the designer checks the internal control and finally the car is ready for the starts to reach to the event. A message that bind both the features is that only deserving people can have a car like KIA soul, the effort needs to be put in the people, and once their efforts have been met they deserve to travel in a car like KIA Soul. The entire ad is about transformation, how hamsters were being transformed at one end the car was being designed on the other. The ad has proven to be one of the most like ads in the year 2014, since the time it was aired it has more than 14 Million views, and comments stating that KIA has once again taken over the hearts of the buyers, and each one of the viewer is thrilled about the ad and how they have mixed two very different things into one concept. All the viewers are motivated about the ad, the hamster and the CAR. KIA Soul has appealed to the need for nurture, need to achieve, need for attention, need for aesthetic sensation and need to satisfy curiosity (Fowels). The ad is all about to groom oneself to achieve sense of achievement and gain attention from the audience. It adds the final touches by providing style through looks and body. The hamster ad is one of the rarest ads that the customer would see on air, the ad is one that should be hated and misunderstood by the customers but it has proven to be one of the most liked ads worldwide. The ad is produced by David and Goliath has made the ad in a manner the customer watching can’t help but to go along the song and the emotions. It has also been awarded the Automotive Ad of the Year, and has had 10 Million views on face book and it is stated to be the best ad of the all times yet, and the best of the quality is that it promotes all new Soul, which has been redesigned. The ad is all about the hamster which is in their baggy clothes, they are exercising and doing all the effort to change their image and in the end they come out to be the most wanted and smartest creatures of the planet. Lady Gaga which is one of the most popular and heard voice of the times has played the music in the back and her voice has helped in the ad to come up with more trendy and up to date wardrobe. It was first aired during the music awards hosted by MTV, the reason behind was to show the ad through a music forum, keeping in mind they have taken Lady Gaga as their background singer and chosen electrical and upbeat music. The ad was shown to the world after the live performance of the music by the singer herself. According to the makers, once the ad was viewed by public they will use 18,000 movies screens worldwide to promote the ad, and would use other electrical and digital media including billboards, social media, magazines and experimental pushes (Parekh.). KIA has been investing heavily in marketing and promoting campaigns and has proved to be successful each time with something more creative and worthwhile. It was on the top 10 fastest-growing ad spenders of the year 2013. They alone invested a huge sum of $637 Million in U.S alone, which was increase of 27% in their ad spending budget. KIA hamster ad has proven to be one of the most like ads, which has gained its popularity due to the electronic dance, head bopping and the fantastic box-on-wheels. The aim behind the ad is to give motivation to the buyers not only to buy the vehicle but at the same time to transform’s ones personality. It is one of those ads which have seen little or no negative impact on the public, they have used hamster and portrayed them in a positive manner, and there was no resentment from any side of the public. They all were huge followers of the ad. For this reason the ad could have millions of views in a short span of time. The ad has proven to be a symbol in the industry, a way which can introduce something not popular into something most wanted, it creates a sense of achievement, and edge to the customers to purchase the product as they feel that it is worth all the efforts. Other ads like Gatorade uses real humans doing the efforts, these efforts can be subjective and can be boring when presented in an ad. Although the ad is also about hard work and achievements. Same is with Dodge ram ad, where a farmer is being portrayed as the main hero. The ad is well designed but lack the factor of interest and becomes far from reality. Positioning The company used attribute based perceptual mapping in order to gain the target market perception and insight to the market’s view. The selection criteria was through secondary research and then primary research was conducted for market analysis, data was inserted in spread sheet, it was converted to graphs and the results were interpreted. Survey was conducted though monkey survey where 1000 participants gave their opinions. In secondary research they figured that the most important car criteria were mile per charge, horse power, incentives, price, driving style and design. The same data was compared with other competitors in the market (Sans). Target Audience The target Audience is between the age group of 18 to 35 years of age, for female and male, working class and young couples. The car is inexpensive and small in size. It is also in various fluorescent colors to give an extra edge to the outlook of the car. Conclusion Good companies are those who understand the need of the customer and the market and are creative enough to convince them that they are doing in the best interest of their buyers. The make them believe that they put across their best product for their customers and the product is worth to keep. Kia Soul ad is the representation of the same feeling; the ad is a portrayal of all that is ordinary to all that is extraordinary. The ad is all about making efforts and being rewarded from them. The efforts of the hamster working hard and the designer making the vehicle is the indication that the company is working hard to ensure that their customers are met with nothing less than the best. The company has to be updated with the primary research of its customers and must keep on creating different goods that would give them the competitive advantage for a longer period of time. Bibliography Nudd, Tim. "Ad of the Day: Kias Hamsters, as Youve Never Seen Them Before." 2014. Ad week. 2014 . Parekh., Rupal. "The Kia Hamsters Are Back With a Slimmed-Down Look, Jamming to Lady Gaga." 2013. ADAG. 2014 . Sans, Alfanso. "Positioning KIA Soul." 2014. slide share. 2014 . Sources, Kia. "History." 2014. Kia. 2014 . Fowles, Jib. “Advertising’s Fifteen Basic Appeals.” Common Culture: Reading and Writing About American Popular Culture. Ed. Michael Petracca, Madeleine Sorapure. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 1998. Shirl’s Site. Shirley Galloway, n.d. Web. 5 Sept. 2009. Read More