Irvine-based Kia Motors America Inc. is looking to up its marketing amid the worst slump in auto sales in recent history.
In August, Kia vowed to increase its marketing spending by 30%, according to Tim Chaney, Kia’s marketing director.
That’s a pretty noble goal, given that U.S. auto spending in 2009 likely will slump to its lowest point since 2003, according to trade publication AdvertisingAge.
“We’re attempting to reach out to people where they wouldn’t normally expect to see Kia,” said Michael Sprague, vice president of marketing.
Kia, part of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co., spent $220 million on advertising in 2007 and $107 million January through May of 2008, the most recent numbers available, according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus, part of Nielsen Co.
The figures don’t include online ads, which are a big part of the company’s ongoing advertising campaign.
“We’ve been looking to do more with interactive, but also continue to push forward with our traditional advertising,” Sprague said.
The company is working with Atlanta-based AutoTrader.com LLC, which will have exclusive rights to show what vehicles Kia dealers have on hand on the classified listing Web site.
“When consumers get down to deciding on a car, they have questions,” said David Schoonover, Kia’s online and customer relationship marketing manager. “No. 1 is, ‘Do you have it?’ With the AutoTrader partnership, we address the ‘Do you have it?’ question.”
Before the partnership, the company was advertising on AutoTrader.com and using its Web-based dealer-led inquiries.
“The Internet is an incredibly important part of what we need to do to grow our business,” Schoonover said. “We realize we can’t do it alone.”
Kia worked with ad-supported music streaming company San Francisco-based imeem Inc., launching a mobile advertising campaign for its new 2010 Kia Soul.
The automaker signed on as the first advertiser for Google Inc.’s Android operating system, currently only available for the G1 phone sold by T-Mobile USA Inc., a unit of Germany’s Deutsche Telekom AG.
Inside Campaign
The campaign includes display ads in an imeem section of smart phone, as well as ads on imeem’s Web site. There also will be a Kia Soul-branded streaming radio station targeting young listeners.
El Segundo-based David & Goliath LLC and New York’s Usablenet Inc. developed the mobile ads and software for Kia Soul Mobile.
The automaker also redesigned its Web site in December.
“With 75% of consumers researching their next new car purchase online, Kia.com is critical to our marketing strategy,” Chaney said.
The year has been a rough one for most automakers, including Kia.
Kia Numbers
Kia posted November sales of 15,182 autos, down 37% from a year earlier. Its year-to-date sales were down 8% with sales of 258,753 vehicles, versus the 281,405 vehicles sold during the same period in 2007.
Both are in line with the auto industry’s slump.
Numbers for December are due this week with all signs pointing to a similar decline in sales.
South Korea-based Kia Motors Corp. and parent Hyundai Motor cut their 2008 sales forecast by 12.5%. They now expect sales to reach 4.2 million vehicles for the year, compared to an earlier forecast of 4.8 million.
The automaker is undergoing emergency measures, including freezing management salaries.
Kia joins Hyundai in curtailing production as concerns of job losses and a lack of credit deter consumers from showrooms. In addition to production cuts, the company cut some overtime and weekend shifts in December.
Kia’s planned $1.2 billion Georgia plant is proceeding on time and should open as scheduled late next year, not far from Hyundai’s Alabama facility, according to company officials.
Several media outlets had reported possible delays as Kia worked to sell off unsold vehicles before opening the plant. But the factory is moving ahead, according to Kia.
