Kia Motors America: Totally Transformed

The Hamsters burst onto the scene five years ago armed with a ton of attitude and a bright, boxy Kia Soul. They were cute, chubby and became known for their bright, baggy clothes and slick dance moves. Well, this year things have changed. We're introducing a more refined, more advanced Kia Soul, which means it's time to give the Hamsters a more refined, more advanced look too. Like always, the Hamsters have their paws on the pulse of pop culture. Today, the trend is to be fit, healthy, well groomed and stylish. More than ever, people take pride in the way they look and the Hamsters aren't any different. So, for the fifth installation of our Kia Soul campaign, we witness a transformation of both the Kia Soul and its formerly frumpy mascots. That's right, the Hamsters are shedding their furry folds and baggy clothes to become lean, mean head-turning machines, much like the all-new Soul. The commercial titled, "Totally Transformed," is centered around a 60-second spot set to the new single, "Applause," from multi-platinum and Grammy Award-winning artist Lady Gaga. The spot will debut during the MTV Video Music Awards this Sunday, August 25, immediately following Lady Gaga's first-ever live performance of "Applause." A 90-second extended version can be viewed online [here]. Kia's newly-polished Hamsters will also hit the big screen when the multi-platform campaign expands to more than 18,000 movie screens nationwide on August 30. Other elements of the campaign include digital, social, OOH, POS, promotion and experiential. Backstory: The Kia Soul was introduced to the world three years ago as "a new way to roll." The advertising campaign was designed to appeal to a new and younger audience that wanted to stand out in their group but still fit in. In an incredibly unique approach for the automotive category, it featured a crew of hip Hamsters cruising the city in their distinctive Soul, making all the other hamsters on ordinary hamster wheels envious. The TV commercial was named "Automotive Ad of the Year" by Nielsen based on ratings from 2.5 million consumers, and won an Effie Award along with a host of other advertising awards. Building off of the success of the Soul launch and the Hamsters' popularity, phase two of the campaign further demonstrated that the Kia Hamsters had their paws on the pulse of pop culture. In the style of a music video set to the classic Hip-hop track, "The Choice Is Yours" by the Black Sheep, our hero Hamsters cruise through the city in their Kia Soul. They pass other hamsters in toasters, washing machines and cardboard boxes ï¿½ï¿½" which were the street slang names used by our 20-something target for the competition. The Kia Hamsters rap the song's lyrics ï¿½ï¿½" "You can get with this, or you can get with that" ï¿½ï¿½" making the other hamsters in their vanilla rides jealous. The Kia Soul commercial once again was named "Automotive Ad of th

Kia Motors America: Totally Transformed

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