Kia ran one one of the most affecting TV advertisements during the Super Bowl on Sunday, for its new EV9. But was it one of the most effective?
Kia ran one one of the most affecting TV advertisements during the Super Bowl on Sunday. Contrasting with a cacophony of celebrity-laden and often confusing commercials fielded by dot-coms and drug companies, Kia’s spot was a coherent story about how its new all-electric EV9 generated current to provide for a touching moment between a granddaughter and her grandfather.
At a time long past automakers’ initial touting of their EV models during the Big Game as gee-whiz harbingers of the future, Kia chose to highlight something Americans are only beginning to understand: the ability of many EVs to supply stored electricity when owners don’t have anywhere else to get current.
Kia’s overall approach in the ad also showed that EV9 can do pretty much everything that owners have depended on gasoline-powered, three-row SUVs to do, such as traverse snow-covered roads with ease and provide adult-sized room in the third row. But the trump card in the “Perfect 10”60-second spot was demonstrating how EV9 also could power lights and sound for a makeshift ice-skating performance by a girl whose home-bound, ailing grandfather couldn’t get out to see her perform in public.
