How does Kia use its NBA partnership to drive fans into dealerships? By creating a “New New Car Smell” that NBA fans can’t refuse. We worked with fragrance designers and our NBA partners to create custom air fresheners with the distinct in-game musk of each NBA team, then filmed a satirical docu-style short to introduce the innovation. Viewers on social media were directed to swing by any of the 200 participating Kia dealerships for a complimentary air freshener with a test drive. The content greatly outperformed an average Kia social post. Lebron James even gave it a completely unsolicited retweet to his 40 million followers.

The campaign launched with content that introduced the uniquely pungent air fresheners, along with their origin, the “Kia Scent Lab.” The video ended with a call to action driving viewers to collect a free air freshener with a test drive at a participating Kia dealership. Over 18,000 air fresheners have been distributed to 200 dealerships across America. Additionally, the content was made available for dealers to run in local markets and the 200 participating dealerships. The full-length video launched across Kia’s social channels, with specially tagged versions Tweeted by Kia’s 12 partner NBA teams.

Local dealerships were thrilled with the results, sharing the video on their own social channels in an effort to increase test drives. The video generated earned national reach, with 97MM impressions in a month, which is 529% higher than Kia’s NBA social content. Sentiment was 98% positive, with 1.9K mentions (313% higher than an average post). We created a cultural association between the brand and the NBA– Lebron James retweeted the video (unsolicited), and fans responded with GIFs and memes celebrating team smells, team performance and even asking Lebron to share his own tales of locker room smells.