Historically, people buying Kia’s were older and chose them for their low price point. But all that changed when the Soul came along. Kia finally had a vehicle that looked good. Our task was to convince young consumers the Soul wasn’t just another affordable vehicle, but a stylish one as well. The Soul was Kia’s 'new way to roll', and we knew the communication needed to embody that same spirit. Hence the tagline: 'a new way to roll'. We looked at competitive work from Scion and Nissan and went as far as we could in the other direction. Knowing the youth audience champions things like individuality, music, style, life-experience and sharing, we created a fully integrated campaign that touched on those very things. The result was essentially a coup within the 'boxy vehicle' category as Kia outsold both Scion and Nissan – the former being the creator of the category itself.

Creative and media worked together to convey the freshness and challenger spirit of 'A New Way to Roll.' -TV/Cinema: The campaign launched in cinema with a :30 and :60 Hamsters spot, which showed a series of hamsters in Souls breaking through a 'sea of sameness.'-Music: Knowing that music was important currency to our young target, the songs played by the driving hamsters changed depending on market and media environment.

-Social Media: The social media strategy had the simple goal of starting a dialogue with the target, and continuing it through their everyday online experiences. 'Hamsters,' initially posted on YouTube by the agency, took on a life of its own as users re-posted the real spot, then created scores of parodies, starring themselves.

-Print and Outdoor: Showcased various 'follow the leader' archetypes – sheep, robots, fish, etc. – are set in contrast to Soul’s standout design.

Not only was the campaign extremely well-liked by consumers, but it answered the client’s objectives as well; sales and market share. Following the launch in March 2009, Soul outsold Scion xB every month. Not only did the sales results exceed company sales volume goals, Soul became one of the most successful US vehicle launches in Kia’s history.But of course, consumers had a love affair with the Soul Hamsters.

The www.kiasoul.com microsite received 8,211,635 hits within 6 months. During this period, the four songs from the Hamsters spots were available for download on the site, and 62,823 songs were downloaded, capping the songs’ original licensing agreement. Hamsters was incredibly popular online with more than 3 million views on YouTube. On August 31, Kia Soul’s Facebook fan page had 14,189 fans; Scion xB’s fan page had just 846 fans, and the Scion brand page had only 6,421.