As a marketer, I watch the Super Bowl for the commercials. The game is terrific, but the commercials deliver the same kind of thrill ride to anyone involved with selling a product or service – which is most of us. So what is my pick?
Kia: ‘Hero’s Journey’ with Melissa McCarthy
While the super bowl commercials serve many purposes including brand building, they ultimately need to help generate sales. The Kia “Hero’s Journey” advertisement delivers a solid selling message in a humorous and actionable manner.
If you haven’t seen it, watch it here:
Here are my reasons
- Clear Positioning? They offer “the most fuel efficient crossover”
- Why Me? They connect with the “hero” in each of us
- Why Now? They communicate a sense of urgency
- Why This Product? It’s the positioning: “most” fuel efficient
- Call to Action? “It’s hard to be an ecowarrior, but it is easy to drive like one.”
This simple statement communicates what makes the Niro hybrid crossover vehicle unique. To standout, Kia does this by choosing the “most” positioning direction.
As a positioning and message expert, you can learn more about the “most” positioning direction along with three other powerful positioning directions in this short video clip.
This video was excerpted from a University of Washington CoMotion Presentation.
This ad effectively reaches out to its potential buyers by appealing to the hero in us in a very topical, yet humorous manner. They put connecting with you first, before conveying the sales messages.
You are needed now in order to save the whales, trees and polar ice caps. They use a humorous approach and a celebrity comedian who experiences unexpected consequences in order to successfully break through the business-as-usual barriers.
After a connection and urgency have been established, the product message is conveyed. Also, they show the product — multiple times and well integrated — not just as a parting shot.
Are you ready to go for a test drive? I am. They brought the whole message home by putting you in the driver’s seat.
Congratulations Kia, well done!
Try watching the commercial again
Now that you have the ChangeMarketer perspective on the commercial, I suggest watching it again. It will be a different experience. We do this in a marketing workshop that I conduct on positioning and messaging. It is not only fun, but effective in helping you shape your own communications when you are in a selling situation.
