Last year, Kia Motors launched the 2010 Soul through a series of clever creatives featuring ‘soulful’ hamsters. You know the ones. Day breaks on a morning commute and hamsters clog the freeway, all spinning on exercise wheels. Meanwhile, three ‘enlightened’ hamsters roll up in their Kia Soul, blasting hip-hop and wasting the hamster wheels off the line.



In tests of that creative, Kia found that it resonated more with their 18-34 year old target demographic than any creative they’d ever run before. So they made the unusual choice to re-vive the ‘Soul Hamsters’ through a second big media push which includes a large YouTube component, including Wednesday's masthead. We wanted to know why Kia’s ‘spokeshamsters’ worked so well, and what their plans were for viewers. Here’s what Kia had to say about the campaign:

1) Kia was very successful with its launch of the 2010 Soul last year through the clever 'Soul Hamster' spots. It's unusual for a car company to do another big media push in the second year of a launch. What were the results of that original campaign, and what prompted Kia to revive 'Soul Hamsters' on YouTube?



“This or That” is the rebirth of the initial Kia Soul award winning advertising campaign and brings back the loveable Hamsters due to popular demand. Soul is a unique and highly personalizable urban passenger vehicle and the new spot builds on that creative theme. The new “This or That” campaign is now on cable, in theaters and online and visits to Kia.com are up more than 2.5MM visitors since launch. Further illustrating the campaign and vehicle’s popularity, Soul videos on YouTube have more than 2.6MM views. Soul fans on Facebook doubled to more than 29,000 in the first two days after its release and today there are more than 80,000 fans.

2) You're sponsoring the YouTube masthead today, and it features a contest called "Who's Next?", searching for the next YouTube star. To do this, you've partnered with current YouTube stars, Smosh, ShayCarl, and LisaNova. What do you hope these partners will add to the campaign?

We are constantly working to engage our fans. The Kia Soul has attracted a new audience to the Kia brand and engaging these fans through the “Who’s Next?” contest gives them the opportunity to have fun with the Soul’s playful personality. These celebrity judges provide us with the best of both worlds in that they have huge established communities that largely consist of the Soul target customer. Furthermore, their hard work and success lend an edge of credibility as well.

3) The masthead is just the beginning of your media push around the Kia Soul. What else are you doing on YouTube and online to drive contest entries and brand engagement?

Social media is an important part of the marketing strategy for the Kia brand and Soul and engaging passionate enthusiasts in this space creates additional opportunities to build buzz through a new, interactive experience. Our social activations include blogger outreach with partner Fanscape, communications by the judges themselves to their subscriber base, and outreach to Kia’s own established social community. In addition, there also is video distribution and an e-mail blast with Tube Mogul.

4) If you can forgive the alliteration, what is it about rapping rodents that resonated so well with your demographic? In other words - what worked about this particular creative? Why not push features instead of spokeshamsters?

In place of a traditional and formulaic car ad, the cool hamsters in the Soul commercial continue to entertain in cinemas, on television and online in a big way. Understanding that the Soul’s primarily Gen Y audience plays a great deal in the digital space, and that they viewed the first hamster commercial multiple times, the newest hamster experience is rich with details in the hamster world as well as through music and additional integrated Soul content for audiences to discover with repeat viewings. Youthful consumers want to feel unique within their group in an effortless way, not an obvious one. While they have their own bold and distinct style, they don’t want to look like they are “trying too hard”, so the Hamsters personified all of the Soul’s unique features.

Additionally, music and in-car entertainment is an increasingly important factor for today’s car buyers so building off of several catchy music groups from the first Soul commercial, “ This or That” features the popular ‘90s hip-hop group, Black Sheep, which further resonates with the youthful demographic.

5) The 'Soul Hamster' spots originally ran in theaters and on TV last year, and then seamlessly transitioned to the internet. With other Kia advertising, do you need to tailor your ads directly to an online audience, or can you just cut down a longer television commercial?

Several Kia commercials start in theaters because they have an entertainment value and theaters provide a wide reach. Each vehicle has a different demographic and we tailor our advertising efforts to individual audiences to keep our efforts fresh and appealing. Sometimes a cutdown of the TV ad works. Sometimes when we shoot the TV ad, we shoot extra or side footage to create an Internet-optimized version. And sometimes we shoot strictly for Internet, like we did for the Moochie webisodes (www.moochiemania.com). It all depends on the strategy.

Kate Rose, YouTube Communications recently watched A Hamsterdance Tribute Video

Mozilla's founding Chair, Mitchell Kapor, was once noted to say, "Getting information off the Internet is like taking a drink from a fire hydrant". It can be an overwhelming experience, particularly when you're looking for information to help your business succeed.

Today, we hope to turn that gush of information into something a little more palatable. We are proud to launch think with Google - our new YouTube platform for sharing business insights and industry viewpoints delivered in bite-sized, inspiring and actionable talks.



The channel has many leading thinkers offering their insights on trends, creativity, marketing, business strategy, consumer insights and more; helping you navigate in the dynamic business landscape. Contributors already include Zappos’ CEO Tony Hsieh, Amazon’s Managing Director Brian McBride, innovative author and speaker Don Tapscott and London Mayor Boris Johnsson.

The hope is that this will become a thriving business community in the spirit of YouTube – so head to the channel, listen to the thinkers and feel free to make your voice heard.

Christoffer Klemming, UK B2B Marketing recently watched Kai Huang, Guitar Hero: The death of physical

A few weeks ago, a bunch of us from YouTube attended VidCon, an online video conference produced by and for the YouTube community. During the three-day event there were plenty of screaming fans, music performances, and Justin Bieber-inspired hair cuts. To quote YouTube partner extraordinaire, ShayCarl, "If you have an internet connection and you were NOT at VidCon then you are obviously still using 56K. NOOB!!"

You don't have to have attended VidCon to learn from the event, though. Conference organizers, Hank and John Green, aka the vlogbrothers, made sure there was ample opportunity for YouTube's top partners to teach the next generation how to be successful on YouTube. We took good notes and, as it turns out, many of these tips could help advertisers be successful on YouTube, as well.

1) You can't make it on YouTube alone.

Make friends and build relationships with producers who have audiences, then leverage their audiences through cross promotion, shout-outs and annotation referrals. Many popular YouTube producers are also willing to create branded entertainment videos or provide product placement opportunities.* Some partners, like whatthebuckshow, have been very successful with these opportunities, building trust with viewers at the same time by calling out the product placement in videos when they occur.

*Keep in mind that certain FTC Guidelines may require disclosure of endorsement relationships between advertisers and partners, so you may want to check with your legal counsel.

2) Keep to a schedule and theme when publishing content.

Expectations are important. People want to know what type of videos they will be watching week after week on a particular channel. They like a recognizable topic and show format for the videos. That doesn't mean that producers can't mix it up, but consistency definitely counts. The top partners, like sxephil, also highlight when they publish new episodes in the header banner of their channel so fans know when to return for fresh content.

3) Think about the next action and viewer engagement.

YouTube is an interactive medium. What do you want someone to do after watching your video? Ask them to rate, comment, or share your video. Ask them for their opinions. You can even ask them to click on a link and purchase your product. Top partners often respond to previous comments in new videos. This also provides a great opportunity to get to know your fans and build deeper relationships.

4) Cross-platform promotion and the first 24 hours are huge.

As soon as partners upload a new video, they notify their fans via Twitter, Facebook, etc. (Their YouTube subscribers are automatically notified when they return to the site and log in.) They also email influential blog editors and traditional media outlets that are relevant to the topic or that have featured them in the past. Leverage every distribution channel you can to promote your new video. There are a lot of ways people discover videos, so leveraging as many outlets as possible increases the chances of discovery. (Be careful not to spam though!) Advertisers shouldn't forget about using paid media to launch new videos either. Both Promoted Videos and traditional display advertising can provide lots of additional views.

5) Watch comments, but not too closely. Obsess on Insights.

Comments can provide valuable feedback and additional information about your videos and your audience. Viewers will tell you what they like and don't like about your videos. But you need to have a bit of a thick skin since there will always be haters and trolls; don't take them too seriously. Good content will always get plenty of positive comments, as well. Focus on watching Insights to determine where and how people are finding your videos and if any external sources are directing a lot of traffic. If you do discover that a particular blog is sending you a lot of referrals, reach out and say thanks. Then add them to your notification list for the next time your publish a video. Hot spots will also tell you when people start to lose interest in your video.

Posted by Rick Silvestrini, Product Marketing Manager (and nerdfighter), just watched 'Top 10 Moments from VidCon'

After the huge success of last year’s webinar series, which we co-hosted with Effie Worldwide, we are proud to announce that we shall be reprising the series again this year. Today we invite to you register for the first installment in this free series, which will take place on July 20, 2010 at 2 pm EDT. All the webinars and tons of great case studies are always available for you on theEffie Worldwide YouTube Channel.

If you join the webinar, you will hear directly from the esteemed agencies and marketers responsible for three off the best Effie Award-winning video and social media campaigns:

• P&G/Old Spice & Wieden+Kennedy- "Swagger: The Scent That Makes A Difference"
• Jack in the Box & Secret Weapon Marketing- "What Would the World Be Like Without Jack"
• Intel Corp & Venables Bell & Partners- "Sponsors of Tomorrow"

Posted by Peter Sherman, Product Marketing Manager, recently came back from VidCon 2010

Thanks for your submissions last month! Here's the next batch of requests for love on Twitter or Spotlight Videos (if you don't see this module on your homepage, add it here). Spotlights run a few times per week and showcase interesting and timely videos from our community and partners, all organized around an event or theme. Tag any appropriate and relevant video with the tags below to be considered for these spotlights, and please do so well before the date listed below. Please also note that themes and dates are subject to change and spotlights may be added or dropped without notice.

7/4 - Independence Day: BBQ, fireworks, sun, sand and sea...the possibilities for video are endless, so show us what you've got! (tag: yt4th)
7/9 - Vidcon: Going to this user gathering/conference in L.A. next weekend? We want to see your video'd reports, encounters and other fun stuff. (tag: ytvidcon)
7/22 - ComicCon: We're looking to feature the latest from this year's comics/pop culture expo (tag: ytcomiccon)

Mia Quagliarello, Product Marketing Manager, Community, recently watched "Go South Africa!"