Innocean Australia

Client: Kia Australia
Product: -
Title: Kia's Getting a Ute
Media: Innocean Australia
Country: Australia
Date Of Campaign: 03/04/24

Background: Australians are obsessed with utility vehicles. Or as Aussies like to call ‘em: utes. Unlike any other car category, Australia’s ute market over-indexes in rural and regional communities (53%) with the largely male audience (87%) caring the most about two things in the world.The pub and sport. And sport at the pub. Our strategic challenge was to drive awareness and nameplate recognition for the Korean car company's most Australian product launch ever – the Kia ute. But without a car or a name before its official release in 2025, we needed to drive consideration in Australia’s most competitive and patriotic car category. To become part of Aussie culture, as well as Aussie folklore.

Idea: Utes are the number 1 car sold in Australia. A competitive category dominated by Toyota and Ford. But with an 18-month buying cycle, the Korean car company needed to get onto Australia’s consideration lists ahead of launching its most Australian product yet - the Kia ute. So with no official name, we recruited 20 sporting legends from different eras and codes. Coming together to compete for naming rights in the ultimate game of one-upmanship. Breaking category conventions to tell a tale of sporting heroes, unbridled rivalry and Australian pub culture all coming together to name Kia’s first ever ute.To reach our regionally skewed male audience, we set our campaign against the backdrop of the nation’s beloved outback pub culture and iconic sporting heritage. Creating a tribute to the Australian way of life - without a single car in sight. The sport stars boast 29 Premierships, four Paralympic gold medals, four World Championships, 26 Grand Slams, one Golden Slam, three Melbourne Cups, six sporting captains, two Australians of the Year, two Young Australians of the Year, nine Hall of Fame entrants and a National Living Treasure.The ‘Kia’s Getting a Ute’ film launched during the nationally televised 2024 NRL (National Rugby League) Opener to tease the arrival of a ute made for Australia. The integrated campaign uses our sporting stars’ socials to up the ante, plus radio, OOH and a specially created mural. The actual name of the ute was also playfully hidden in the main films. Placing ‘Tasman’ easter eggs across our film including Ned’s news article, where a dart hits the map, on a portrait of Abel Tasman and even the name of our outback pub revealed in the final exterior shot. As the game of one-upmanship continues the stakes get higher. The in-jokes and moments were all written bespoke for the sporting icon to immortalise their most famous career defining moment.

Results: Australians really connected with the spot, generating huge organic view counts and an abundance of earned media, news articles and in-broadcast segments on some of the most popular news and entertainment shows in the country. The ad generated earned reach of over 97.5 million from 262 pieces of editorial coverage (including syndications across online, print and broadcast). Across Kia’s owned channels, it received over 1.7 million organic views, sending over 70,000 people to the Kia website and gathering over 5,000 registrants to the Kia database. 85 million media impressions.1.7 million organic views.97,588,479 earned media reach.262 pieces of editorial coverage (including syndications across online, print and broadcast). 70,000+ unique website visits.5000+ registrations.#8 trending video on YouTube organically.