Kia’s latest campaign by Innocean aims to connect with young drivers through their love for fashion and music, while promoting the brand’s new vehicle, the Kia K4.

In partnership with a music director and producer, as well as a fashion photographer, the automaker created four videos that showcase the new car, along with messages that encourage consumers to be different and original in a world full of conformity. One of the videos, for example, invites consumers to “stand out and be defiantly original” with the new K4, while showing a handful of mannequins dressed in similar clothing. All the videos are accompanied by the Gorillaz song New Gold featuring Tame Impala and Bootie Brown

Innocean VP and creative director Bill Newbery tells strategy that the team wanted to break the mould of conventional ads in the automotive industry, which tends to focus on the features of new models. Instead, the team emphasizes K4’s style and how it aligns with the interests of its target audience. “To stand out we developed a launch campaign that was just like our target audience: bold, confident, and fashion-forward,” Newbery says.

The campaign is a new chapter in Kia’s ongoing brand repositioning, Newbery notes. Since 2021, when Kia launched a new identity with the tagline “Movement that inspires,” the automaker has sought to position itself as a more aspirational, modern and innovative brand. “That’s why with the K4 launch we wanted to highlight K4’s style and overall tech-enhanced experience,” Newbery says.

It also aligns with the brand’s goal of creating noise in the market, taking advantage of the fact that K4’s audience is younger compared to other brands. “This is the demographic we need to appeal to [in order to] gain credibility and take market share from established and behemoth competitive brands in the segment,” Newbery says. The target is adults between 25 and 49 years old.

The media plan includes online video, connected TV, digital channels, social media, as well as OOH and DOOH. Compared to previous campaigns, the brand prioritized digital and connected TV over TV to reach a younger demographic, Newbery adds.

Innocean also led the media buy.