Kia Soul Commercials: Why are they popular? AKA Kia Soul searching...

The Kia Soul Commercials we have all seen them but why are they so popular. Is it the hamsters, the music or do they have that certain "Je ne sais quoi?" Today, we at The Commercial Critic will analyze just one of the commercials from the Kia Soul hamster ad campaign to see if we can pinpoint what makes it one of the more memorable commercials we seen in a while.

The Kia Soul commercial we are studying today comes from the talented people of David and Goliath. The title of the television advertisement is Share some Soul. The reason this commercial was so popular with the target demographic was due to the several key elements: scene, music and character choices. The combination of the elements proved to be absolutely perfect.

The commercial is set in what appears to be a variation on a post-apocalypse environment with robotic monsters warring with a humanoid type being covered by metallic armor. The scene became a large factor in the popularity of the ad when analyzed from a broader spectrum that includes the current media events of the time. The commercial was released in August 2011. Preceding the release of the ad the blockbuster movie Transformers: Dark of the Moon was released on June 23rd. Was DNG trying to ride the Transformer bus? Was the it just me or did the humanoid fighter look similar to Master Chief of the Halo video game franchise. I'm not sure when the ad was being put together but it seems pinning one's hope on the success of a movie is irresponsible however adding queues from a well known video game can give it just the right amount of juice to stand on its own. Visually the people at DNG did a spectacular job on the commercial setting the scene and the music choice was a perfect accompaniment to the scene.

The music used in the ad was LMFAO's hit song Party Rock Anthem. The strong beats and the up beat tempo drive the party like atmosphere that the commercial is conveying about the Soul. The song was released in December of 2010 but did not top the charts until July of 2011. Interestingly the song was number one on the Billboard top 100 at the ad came out. Coincidence? I am starting to spot the beginnings of a pattern. Does smashing popular current media items together make for a memorable ad? Like a bunch of zombies who are controlled by computers that must blow up the alien being controlling them while Bruno Mars' Locked Out of Heaven... (Walking Dead, The Sims, Oblivion). Alright, I would watch that.

To Be Continued....