Kia's eighth consecutive Super Bowl appearance won the USA Today Ad Meter popularity contest with a funny sendup of the difficulties in living your principles.

"Hero's Journey," created by Kia agency of record David & Goliath, stars Melissa McCarthy as an environmentalist whose attempts to save a whale, a tree and a rhinoceros don't go so well -- en route to promoting the 2017 Kia Niro, a new hybrid crossover. Her misadventures are set to “Holding Out for A Hero,” the 1984 Bonnie Taylor song from "Footloose."

The automaker debuted the spot on the Wednesday before the game via its so-called NiroBot, a chatbot created in late 2016 for Facebook's Messenger platform as a way for consumers to get information and have questions answered in real time. 

Kia confirmed in December 2017 that it would return for Super Bowl LII. 

Director: Matthias Heijningen. Production company: MJZ. Executive producers: Eriks Krumins, David Zander. Producer: Donald Taylor. Director of photography: Joost Van Gelder.

Agency chairman: David Angelo. Chief creative officers: Bobby Pearce, Colin Jeffery. Executive creative director: Gustavo Sarkis. Executive creative director/copywriter: Ben Purcell. Copywriter: Mark Monteiro. Creative director: John O’Hea. Associate creative directors: Courtney Pulver, Robert Casillas. Executive broadcast producer: Curt O’Brien.

VFX: The Mill. Creative directors/VFX supervisors: Chris "Badger" Knight, Robert Sethi. Executive producer: Pete King. Telecine executive producer: Thatcher Peterson. Senior producer: Anastasia Von Rahl, Sr.

Editorial: Work Editorial. Editor: Jono Griffith. Assistant editors: Ben Foushee, Keith Hamm. Executive producer: Marlo Baird. Producer: Lynne Mannino.

BRAND: Kia

YEAR: 2017

AGENCY: David & Goliath

SUPERBOWL: LI

QUARTER AIRED: 3