Situation

Clear first-mover opportunity for a 7 seater EV in the UK market.

Brief

A high profile campaign for the Kia EV9, targeting female decision-makers in multi-car households. Communicate its credentials as the future of EVs, boasting 7 seats, perfect for family adventures.

Objectives

– Deliver a massive, attention grabbing stunt with a focus on earned and social media consumed by women

– Drive media attention for the new EV9, not only promoting the car, but driving excitement for the category of electric vehicles

– As the EV9 is a family SUV (seven-seater), ensure we reach an audience of parent-drivers, with a focus on women

– Change the narrative from negativity about the ban on sales of new petrol and diesel cars to be banned in the UK from 2030, to a more positive future with EVs

– Celebrate the power of going electric

With insights revealing an opportunity to reach a female audience about the family EV, our electrifying idea was to put a MILLION volts through mum and car enthusiast Jodie Kidd – one of the most dangerous stunts the adrenaline junkie has ever done.

Incredible photography shows a futuristic Jodie firing bolts of electricity like a superhero, with the EV9 providing the backdrop as if powering the death-defying stunt. Jodie wore a Faraday suit to conduct the electricity from a ‘lightning machine’, which, in order to photograph, was shot in a custom blacked-out studio made of fire-proof drapes.

The ‘electric’ images were then combined with photography of Jodie and the car in post-production to provide our hero shot, with video content both proving it was ‘real’ (essential for ‘news’ coverage) and also giving Jodie a platform to provide her female perspective on the EV9 and its family features.

Research revealed three key insights:

– Telling the story straight about a new car would not be enough to grab attention and media coverage. We needed a big and bold idea

– Women were a key target for our family car, but they are 30% less likely to buy an EV despite shopping more sustainably

– The media narrative about the bans on petrol/diesel skewed negative. We needed to flip the story and get drivers excited about an electric future

These led us to our key message: The future is electric with the EV9, the ultimate electric family car.

Newsworthy assets were essential, with striking photography and video required for print and online media. The video content was also vital in showing our photo-shoped image was ‘real’ and simply shot in two stages. Assets were designed to have the widest media appeal for both news and consumer media homes.

As well as our striking content we commissioned new research to increase the news-value, revealing how the future was electric and promoting the EV9 as a family car.

Our data showed that nearly a quarter of parents have been encouraged to go electric by their kids and that 2026 is when most drivers will get an EV. We were also able to explore the most common EV myths, for us to then bust with our comms.

With a package of research, photography, video and interviews with Jodie Kidd, we conducted an extensive media audit to reveal the best journalists to contact across news and lifestyle media for maximum impact. More than 100 journalists were targeted with bespoke pitches.

With the content shot just four weeks after the creative was approved, the campaign launched two months later with an explosion of media coverage.

– Media outputs: the campaign generated more than 100 quality earned media articles in Tier 1 UK publications (i.e. national news, national consumer, regional news), 100% of which were positive in tone and mentioned the EV9 and its key features. The media coverage created more than 630 million opportunities to see/hear the campaign and meant the EV9 was the ‘MOST COVERED CAR’’ in the UK in 2023 (Cision media analysis)

– Target Audience Outcomes, including purchase intent: 67% of parent drivers who saw the campaign said they were both more likely to go electric for their next car and buy the EV9 specifically as a result of the campaign (of these, 23% said ‘much more likely). This rose to 69% of women (compared to 65% of men), meaning we bucked the industry trend in reaching women without neglecting the male audience (Sample: 250 motorists who are parents with at least two children aged under 16 in the household, conducted by PCP research in August 2023).

– Business Outcomes: The campaign was a significant driver behind Kia UK achieving its HIGHEST EVER monthly share of voice score for our campaign launch month. Google searches for the EV9 increased by 400% post launch