Kia Super Bowl Ad Airs First in Theaters ... Again

In a Super Bowl advertising blockbuster sequel, Kia Motors America will be back on the big screen for the premiere of its 2013 big game commercial. The fast-growing automaker’s complete 60-second “Space Babies” ad for the redesigned 2014 Sorento CUV will premiere on Feb. 1 on more than 19,000 movie screens nationwide in NCM Media Networks’ FirstLook pre-show program before airing during the fourth quarter of the game.

To build anticipation for its Super Bowl spot’s cinema debut, Kia will kick things off with 15-second teaser ads in movie theaters on Jan. 25. See the teaser video here.

Kia’s cinema launch strategy builds on the tremendous success Kia enjoyed last year when it became the first spot advertiser to ever premiere its spot on the silver screen before the big game. The NCM Media Networks and Nielsen NRG conducted a custom research study of consumers who had seen the Kia Optima commercial last year both in theaters as well as in the Super Bowl, and the positive effect of the combination of TV and cinema on the audience was significant:

Cinema Boosted Ad Recall

While 46-percent of people who saw the Kia ad in the Super Bowl were able to recall it unaided, that number jumped to 70 percent Unaided Recall for people who saw it both in NCM’s FirstLook at the movies and in the Super Bowl.

Cinema plus TV resulted in a 52 percent Unaided Recall increase, vs. TV alone.

When it came to Total Recall (Aided + Unaided), the combination of cinema plus TV resulted in 95 percent Total Recall of the ad by people who saw it both in NCM’s FirstLook at the movies and in the Super Bowl.
Cinema Boosted Intent to Purchase, Likability, and Positive Opinion of the Brand

People who saw the ad both in NCM’s FirstLook and in the Super Bowl were 39 percent more likely to consider purchasing a Kia than people who only saw the ad in the Super Bowl alone. The combination of cinema plus TV also resulted in significant increases in ad likability and positive opinion of the Kia brand in general.
“Kia’s blockbuster success as the first Super Bowl advertiser to ever premiere in cinema was the perfect set-up for a sequel this year,” said Cliff Marks, president of sales and marketing with NCM Media Networks. “The NCM Cinema Network is the number one network in the country on weekends, so the audiences flocking to our theaters on the Friday and Saturday before the big game will get to be the first to experience this fun commercial. Our 40-foot big screens certainly help to build brand buzz, and when smart advertisers like Kia use them in combination with TV, it can have a major impact on campaign ROI.”

“Launching Kia’s Super Bowl commercial in NCM’s FirstLook for the second consecutive year builds on last year’s tremendous success where we saw a noteworthy lift in purchase consideration and equally important, it created early buzz before more than 100 million people saw it during the big game,” said Michael Sprague, executive vice president, marketing & communications, KMA.