Park the clichés Advertisers have taken a simple approach to the outstanding Optima
advertisement as you might a brand advertisement. But that’s the strength of the Optima in this case, that you can do this, explains Rob. “With Kia you already know that you are going to get high quality at great value for money, so in effect you can put that to the back of your mind, and instead surprise and delight in the gorgeous sheet metal.” It’s a new approach in every sense, Lawrence
reckons. He adds: “The decision to run TV advertising for the Optima is unusual in that D-segment cars are not often chosen for such campaigns, and for Kia it will not be a very high volume car which is what often qualifi es
a car for TV advertising. But the Optima sends such a strong message about Kia and what we are all about now, it seemed an obvious thing to do. “We feel that because we are growing as a brand, and the design of our cars is getting so much attention, the Optima is a great example of how Kia is changing and evolving.” Alongside the TV campaign, which launched in the third week of January across all major commercial channels, there will be outdoor poster activity, which Lawrence says will be ‘big and bold’, as well as advertising in the broadsheet press, such as The Times and the
Daily Telegraph, along with a number of fl eet industry magazines too.
He concludes: “The type of people who will choose the Optima will be businessmen and women. And most of the Optima cars sold in the UK will be funded by businesses, one way or another. So we have taken a different approach to our usual advertising, which has generally been aimed at the retail market. “In this instance, we’ll be including CO2
fi gures, BiK bands, running costs data and contract hire rates in our advertising, as these are vital for the corporate market.” A simple approach for a sophisticated car. ■