5 Questions for David&Goliath on the "Walken Closet" Super Bowl Ad

DavidampampGoliathamp8217s new Kia Optima ad is slated to air in the third quarter of Super Bowl 50 and features lovable weirdo Christopher Walken and his iconic hair in a quirky cowbellfree role promoting the colorful sockworthy exceptionalism of the Kia Optima The ad is hilarious culturally relevant and on point And Colin Jeffery CCD at DavidampampGoliath was kind enough to take some time to discuss the ad and the creative workings behind it with AdForumamp8217s James Thompson EnjoyAdForum What about Christopher Walken as a brand makes him the perfect fit for the humor and message in this ad campaign and what came firstamp8212the idea of a walkin closet that led to a call with Christopher Walken or was he on board first and the closet idea was built around his persona Either way it certainly worksDavidampampGoliath I wonamp8217t bore you with the details of a lengthy but very necessary strategic planning process In short we decided to position the Optima as the amp8220Stand Outamp8221 midsize sedan Itamp8217s sophisticated stylish and very different an exciting alternative in an otherwise boring and uninspired midsize categoryWe needed a way to introduce the Optima as all of the above while still retaining Kiaamp8217s youthful spirit and smile Christopher Walkenamp8217s name came up early in the creative process he much like the Optima is sophisticated stylish and very different He also happens to be the coolest human on the planet FactSo we started developing a character and voice with Walken in mind The character ended up becoming this inspiring life coachwise sage that used obscure metaphors to convey his message The Walken Closet came later someone threw out the idea and suddenly Walken had a home The whole thing started to come togetherAdForum There is so much pressure with respect to Super Bowl ads with a 30second spot costing 5 million How did the creative team at DavidampampGoliath handle that pressure and was this campaign treated any differently than other campaigns with lowerprofile launches If so how If not why notDavidampampGoliathamp160This is our seventh consecutive year producing Super Bowl work Itamp8217s always a long and strenuous process that inevitably puts additional pressure on the creative departmentThe stakes are at their highest with over 110 million people watching so you really have to manage the process and deliver Given the stakes we evaluate the work not just on its strategic and creative strength but also its sense of scale and ability to stand out in the Super Bowl of Ads Needless to say thatamp8217s a very high barOne thing weamp8217ve learned over the seven years is that the Super Bowl creative process is a marathon not a sprintAdForum Advertising campaigns today must not only engage consumers in the moment but also live well beyond that moment in the permanent netherworld of social media How does DavidampampGoliath view this evolving reality in advertising and specifically how did the agency implement a social media strategy to complement the amp8220Walken Closetamp8221 Super Bowl 50 adDavidampampGoliath Beyond the spot we activated the campaign across multiple channels and through key digital media placements The 2016 Optima launch uses the metaphor of the amp8220Pizzazzamp8221 socks to show how the Kia Optima is the amp8220Stand Outamp8221 midsize sedan To amplify this we printed hundreds of amp8220Pizzazzamp8221 socks with our lifestyle apparel brand partner Stance and sent them to various influencers to show us how they AddPizzazz in their lifeWe created a multichannel behaviordriven strategy that hinges on compelling content that is shared natively on their social platforms and aggregated on the Kia Tumblr pageWe even went one step further and put together an influencer program tapping into IBM Watsonamp8217s Personality Insights API in order to activate the most relevant social media influencers for the campaign With our partner Influential weamp8217re using social media and teaser content to build momentum around the Super Bowl spot and make it work as hard as possibleLastly key media placements such as a YouTubecom Masthead and a promoted Twitter trend also played a key role in our digital strategy to amplify our campaignAdForum Super Bowl 50 will be watched by millions upon millions of viewers comprised of various demographics via a spectrum of digital devices in addition to traditional TVs last year the Super Bowl was watched by 1144 million television viewers What consumer base did DavidampampGoliath target with the amp8220Walken Closetamp8221 campaign and what strategy was implemented to achieve its target audience goalsDavidampampGoliathamp160We approached the audience for our Super Bowl campaign in a very different way than we would typically think about a target Because the stage is so large and presents such an enormous opportunity for Kia we designed the amp8220Walken Closetamp8221 campaign to reach and resonate with a very wide audience But our core audience is modern progressive people who are drawn to brands that break the mold rather than fit it Not only is Christopher Walken the perfect embodiment of that audience his unique style and humor will entertain everyone watching the Super BowlAdForum Who does DavidampampGoliath want to win Super Bowl 50 and what will be the final scoreDavidampampGoliathamp160Given that our spot runs at the end of the 3rd quarter what we really want is a close game The more eyeballs the betteramp160The opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecom MyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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5 Questions for David&Goliath on the "Walken Closet" Super Bowl Ad

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James Thompson

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5 Questions for David&Goliath on the "Walken Closet" Super Bowl Ad

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