Kia Takes on Time Travelling with New Super Bowl Commercial for 2011 Optima

This year's Super Bowl is just around the corner and automakers are getting ready to spend millions of dollars to draw the attention of buyers. For a second year in a row, Kia will be present at the event with a full marketing campaign incorporating TV, digital, print and social media as well as in-dealership components, all focusing on the 2011 Optima midsize sedan.

The highlight of the campaign is a new 60-second spot that will air in the first quarter of Super Bowl XLV titled “One Epic Ride”. According to the company, the ad shows people across space and time "from a police officer and an international villain to aliens and an ancient chief" trying to get their hands on the all-new Optima, which "becomes an object of desire even for Poseidon", the Greek god of the sea.

“2010 was a historic year for Kia, including our best-ever U.S. sales and our first Super Bowl commercial, and it was an easy decision to return to the game this year to build on the brand’s momentum with the arrival of the all-new 2011 Optima,” said Michael Sprague, vice president, marketing & communications, KMA. “The first phase of the Optima launch promised that this vehicle is ‘not your average midsize sedan,’ and we knew we had to deliver something big for this year’s Super Bowl to give this eye-catching vehicle the attention it deserves, while at the same time generating fun and genuine interactions with consumers before, during and after the Super Bowl.”

The South Korean automaker said it will extend the campaign by giving away up to five new Optimas through its “One Epic Contest,” a game in which consumers will have to solve a series of puzzles using clues found in pre-Super Bowl and game day advertisements and social media postings.

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Subaru Revealed Behind 2011 Mediocrity Marketing Hoax; What do you Say Kia?

As some of you pointed out, Subaru was the culprit hiding behind the week-long 2011 Mediocrity campaign, which showed a beige-cladded first-generation Kia Optima in a scoop-like series of photos. Upon looking at the first set of images that arrived in our mailbox (read here), we knew that this was some sort of devious viral marketing campaign.

It is true that these type of campaigns can be rather cheap and yet extremely effective. However, they can also backfire. And in our opinion, that's the case with Subaru's effort to promote / convince us that the latest Legacy is the opposite of the so-called 'beige' mid-size sedans.

We assume the creators of the campaign believed no one would figure out that the car buried under all that beige makeup was an older Kia Optima.

Mark this down as a big mistake, because once we found out, we were bound to make a comparison between the Legacy and the forthcoming 2011 Kia Optima (and not of course, its decade-old predecessor...).

And in our book, at least, in what concerns the looks department, the new Optima makes the Legacy seem beiger than Japan's beigest beige...

Now, wouldn't it be interesting if Kia responded with a 'beige' answer / commercial to Subaru's campaign?

Link: 2011 Mediocrity Sedan

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Paris Motor Show Poll: Kia Optima vs Peugeot 508 vs VW Passat

At the 2010 Paris Motor Show, we saw three new mid-size sedans making their way to the halls of the Parc des Expositions Porte de Versailles. Two of them, the all-new Peugeot 508 and the redesigned VW Passat B7, received their world premiere, while the Kia Optima was presented for the first time in Europe.

Now, we all know you can't and you shouldn't buy a car based upon looks or preliminary specs alone. It's the whole package that counts. However, in this case, we simply want to find out which one of these new family sedans captured your attention for the right reasons.

Place your vote in the poll after the jump and be sure to have your say in the comments section.

Which mid-size sedan do you like more?

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