October saw Kia Canada activate its Canadian Hockey League (CHL) partnership at the start of the new season with work built around the auto brand’s global ‘Movement That Inspires’ positioning.
The South Korean car company teamed up with Innocean Worldwide Canada to roll out a new social and experiential activation strategy as the CHL return to something closer to normality after two seasons of stay-at-home orders and COVID-19 restrictions.
As in-person hockey attendance and events return along with the resumption of the CHL’s ‘Memorial Cup presented by Kia’ (after a two-year hiatus), Kia and Innocean’s activation is inspired by Kia’s global rebranding and ‘Movement That Inspires’ tagline and is primarily built around a blend of social content and a series of events and consumer contests and shines a spotlight on the connections made through sport and how hockey further inspires people in their lives.
Movement becomes inspiration, and in hockey, inspiration can come from anywhere. Share your inspirational hockey story for a chance to win big.
Learn more at: https://t.co/ASw0uUYIb9#Kia #MemorialCup #CHL pic.twitter.com/nCjXzqiTuu
— Kia Canada (@KiaCanada) October 8, 2021
One key strand of the experiential strategy is a consumer contest through which Kia is asking Canadians to share a story of when they were inspired through hockey for a chance to win the ultimate Memorial Cup experience plus a 1-year lease of a Kia Sorento.
Tell us how you were inspired through hockey for a chance to win a one-year lease of a Kia Sorento and more. Visit https://t.co/ASw0uUYIb9 for program details and to enter. #Kia the Official Automotive Partner of @CHLHockey. pic.twitter.com/QbIktH1Oui
— Kia Canada (@KiaCanada) October 14, 2021
In addition to the grand prize, Kia is also planning to unleash a number of surprise experiences for selected hockey fans throughout the season.
The campaign marks the first time Kia has brought its new branding into the experiential arena in Canada and the aim is that this work will set the tone for future brand experiences to come.
As with previous years, Kia will have a presence at Top Prospects and remains to be the title sponsor of the Memorial Cup which will be hosted in Saint John, New Brunswick in June 2022.
“Experiential marketing is an important part in a customer’s journey as it allows them to see, touch and experience a product in ways that they can’t online or in store. It allows consumers to shift from thinking to buying,” explained Jeff Perrin, Group Account Director, Brand Experiences at Innocean Worldwide Canada. “It is this lack of product experience which has been sorely missed over the last two years and has presented experiential marketers with the difficult task of delivering branded experiences which are both safe for consumers to participate in and create an emotional connection to the brand.”
With Kia, Innocean looked at each sponsorship activation program separately from one another as each were impacted by the pandemic differently. In the case of the CHL, in the last two years Kia has continued to support the league and give fans and customers brand and vehicle activations in the virtual space with an eSports version of the Memorial Cup.
“This year, we are most excited about bringing back the energy of the fans that is missed with virtual events. We are looking forward to being inspired by the stories of how Canadian hockey fans creatively continued their love for the sport over the pandemic when professional play came to a halt,” added Perrin.
Comment:
Kia Canada is now in year four of a multi-year sponsorship as the Official Automotive Partner of the CHL.
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