It is safe to say that Kia wants its new commercial to be a “slam dunk,” literally. In this commercial, the automobile company is clearly appealing to the emerging stardom of Blake Griffin, a high flying NBA rookie who has taken the basketball world by storm. He has grown to be so popular that whenever he has a highlight, it is almost immediately uploaded onto Youtube or NBA.com. There are certain stars in the NBA that only people who watch basketball know about, but Blake Griffin is not one of them. His memorizing dunks not only appeal to the basketball fan, but also to anyone who can appreciate the spectacular and the amazing. What Blake Griffin does can even remind us of previous commercials done by the NBA where its slogan was: “The NBA. Where amazing happens.”
What is even more special about this commercial is that the highlight is not even from an actual game. It is actually one of Griffin’s dunks from the 2011 Slam Dunk Contest. This clearly demonstrates that it is not necessary to directly connect a product with the game itself, but only necessary to associate the product with one of the game’s stars and with one defining moment that happened to be part of All-Star weekend. This commercial is also an example of cross-promotion. For instance, KIA Motors is attempting to market its automobile, the KIA optima, through another venue, which in this case, is the professional basketball world. The commercial wants the viewer to know that Blake Griffin is amazing, but so is the KIA Optima.
It is also not a coincidence that State Farm Insurance is clearly depicted in the commercial as being behind the backboard. This is an example of product packaging where if the viewer is compelled to buy the KIA Optima after watching the commercial, he or she might also be compelled to buy State Farm Insurance to go along with it. The only disappointing part about the commercial might be that Blake Griffin does not come with the car.
This is a blatant exposure of an athlete to promote a company. Clearly, Kia is knowledgeable and understand that using stars to promote their brand or product can actually increase sales. The State Farm insurance in the background is a subtle but nice touch on the part of Kia. I would not have even paid attention to that had you not pointed it out. I would be curious to hear how you think the slow motion and combination of music impacts the viewer.
ReplyDeleteI found the point about the highlight not even coming from an actual game to be very interesting. As Alan mentions, this goes to show that a it is truly Blake Griffin himself (not the game of basketball) who is Kia is using to sell their cars. Watching this commercial, it is clear that the action being depicted is not from a real game because there is a car on the court. Nonetheless, I am mesmerized by Blake Griffin in this commercial and, as a result, I now associate Blake Griffin with the Kia brand.
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