Stuart Elliott, the advertising columnist, answers questions from readers each week. Questions can be sent to stuarte@nytimes.com.
Q. My question regards the TV commercials for the Kia Soul. Could you please find out why the ad uses stuffed rodents — hamsters? ferrets? — driving the vehicle? I love the I Can Has Cheezburger? animals, but at least they’re real animals for the most part. I cannot figure out why an advertiser would think that seeing a stuffed, obviously fake rodent driving the subject vehicle would encourage me to buy it. Every time I see that ad, I just shake my head.
A. Thanks, dear reader, for your comments regarding the campaign for the Kia Soul, which is created by an agency named David Goliath in Los Angeles. What follows is a response to your remarks from Michael Sprague, executive vice president for marketing and communications at Kia Motors America.
“We launched the Soul urban passenger vehicle in 2009 to appeal to the young and young-at-heart with an emphasis on positivity, creativity, fun and optimism,” Mr. Sprague writes in an e-mail.
“The original spot depicted city and suburban streets inhabited exclusively by hamsters who mindlessly run in place inside their exercise wheels until a molten red Soul pulls up to a stoplight and the passenger window rolls down to reveal a trio of music-loving hamsters who have discovered ‘A new way to roll,’ ” Mr. Sprague says. “The follow-up campaign carried the stand-out-from-the-crowd metaphor forward with the hamsters driving through city streets and cleverly comparing “ ’This,’ the funky and uniquely styled Soul, to ‘That,’ a number of boring and mundane appliances on wheels, cardboard boxes or hamster wheels.”
“From the beginning, the hip hamsters have had their paws on the pulse of pop culture and emerging music trends and have starred in some of the most-watched viral videos in the world over the last four years,” Mr. Sprague says. “In 2011, the Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame named the hamsters as their first-ever ‘Rookie of the Year,’ and the Soul’s ongoing popularity is a driving force behind increased awareness and consideration for the Kia brand as a whole.”
In other words, dear reader, the campaign seems popular and successful with the intended target audience of younger car buyers, which means you will probably be seeing the hamsters for a long time to come.
As for your references to the hamsters as “stuffed,” although Mr. Sprague did not address that, I believe they are intended to be perceived as living, breathing hamsters, albeit in anthropomorphic form. Perhaps the fact they move somewhat stiffly led you to think of them that way.
Q. This is in reference to the reader who wrote in recently to criticize the Volkswagen Passat commercial with the father and son. I must agree that it’s awkward and nearly incomprehensible. I remember the ad and remember the product but each time I see it, I need to remind myself of the point of the ad — and frankly, I don’t take away from the ad what the executives at Deutsch L.A. say I should. I thought it was about … ummm, really not sure.
A. Thanks, dear reader, for sharing your opinion. I received several other e-mails commenting on the executives’ explanation of the spot and, like you, those readers remained puzzled or confused about the point of the commercial. I guess we’re all going to have to agree to disagree about this one — or wait until the 2014 model year to begin, when perhaps VW will switch spots.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/24/business/media/q-a-with-stuart-elliott.html?partner=rss&emc=rss