Kia Motors Super Bowl Ad to include "Muno" from Nickelodeon's Yo Gabba Gabba
Kia Motors America, the U.S. unit of South Korea’s Kia Motors Corp., will be a first-time Super Bowl advertiser. Kia will enter the fray with a commercial targeting “mountain-biking dads and blogging moms,” says Michael Sprague, Kia Motors America’s vice president of marketing.
The commercial, entitled “Joyride” features a cast characters, including a life-size Sock Monkey, Muno (from kids show Yo Gabba Gabba!), Robot, Teddy and MR. X (from the Blabla dolls collection). The commercial follows the gang on a road trip crisscrossing the U.S. in a 2011 Sorento crossover, and when they visit Vegas they gamble, break a few hearts and pull out some old dance moves. The commercial will be accompanied by Heavy’s ‘How You Like Me Now’.
Mr. Sprague says the ad is aimed at younger parents with small kids who aren’t ready to give up the sportier ride that a Sorento offers.
The 60-second commercial, crafted by independent ad shop David & Goliath, is a costly gamble for the company, but one it thinks it can afford after what market-research firm Autodata says was a 9.8% increase in U.S. market share last year.