Kia Soul Still Plays with "Hipster Hamsters"

Whether we enjoy it or not, we are all aware of Kia Soul's commercials with hip hamsters that essentially groove along with the beat of music featured in the cars. The initial commercial in 2009 featured a group of hamsters running in place on wheels that often entertain these cute pets. All of a sudden, a Kia Soul pulls up beside them and rolls down the windows to reveal a group of hamsters jamming to the beat of the music, all while driving an upbeat vehicle that makes them appear cool as well. But the music and scene does not only provide humor to the audience, the lyrics of each song has a message for those viewing the ad. The song "Goldfish" by Fort Knox portrays "shaking and moving all because of you" both in the lyrics as well as the actions of the obviously cool hamsters driving in the Kia Soul. It also says "hold on to the moment when there's something brewing in the sky", which suggests there might be some sort of new movement that the consumer should want to be apart of. The text at the end of the commercial also highlights Kia's goal to aim the ads a younger generation of techies who are also concerned with a car's fuel efficiency. 

Here is the initial ad.

The second ad in this campaign is comparing those who have Kias with those who "deal" with other cars. There are a lot of hamsters just hanging out in an urban setting, but one main rapper hamster who is constantly repeating, "you can deal with this, or you can deal with that". The phrase is in beat with the song lyrics of "The Choice is Yours" by the Black Sheep. The "this" in the instance of the Kia Soul ads represent the Kia and they show clips of the vehicle running smoothly. And the "that" are various items from toasters or cardboard boxes dressed up like mock cars. These random items that fall into the "that" category are clearly competitors, but without identifying them to the audience. This is a crucial point because the audience solely focuses on the Kia for the entire duration of the commercial versus thinking about actual competitors.

The second part to the campaign can be found here.

Finally, the most recent ad for the Kia Soul includes the use of modern technology. There are robots in the commercial that join in with the hamsters this time, who dance to "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO.  The Kia is briefly featured in the ad, but at this point viewers who have identified with the campaign at this point, know what the dancing hamsters represent. 

And the most recent ad to the campaign is here.

The copy in all of these commercials remains the same: Kia Soul "A New Way to Drive", starting under $14K, and a reference to the vehicle's fuel efficiency.

All in all, I believe this is a successful campaign. It promotes the Kia Soul in a fun, upbeat way but also focuses on fuel efficiency and pricing, which are crucial components of its target audience. With that being said, the Kia Soul is most likely focusing on young adults (18-30) who are in need of purchasing an affordable, yet efficient car. You could also deduce the audiences want to look cool and appear hip, the Kia Soul is featured in this manner in all three of these ads. I also think the hamster characters are so cute dressed in human clothing and even taking on certain human characteristics (i.e. rapping, dancing both in the car and outside of it). It's a great character to use for these commercials because when most people think of Kia Soul they think of the dancing hamsters.