Kia continues to ‘drive change’ in Canada with the launch of the next round of its campaign, designed to inspire local people to take action and improve their communities by making simple but effective steps. In the line with the ‘Court’ and ‘Garden’ spots, released last year, the car brand has kicked off a new national promotion earlier this summer to highlight Kia’s commitment to social responsibility, find new local heroes and support them. In addition to this, the brand announced August 21 the 1st annual Kia Drive Change Day and has launched a national competition, asking Canadians to submit a project, which can improve their neighborhood area, for a chance to get a $25,000 cash donation to implement the plan.

In the third and the final chapter of our Brands and the City overview, we focused on brands’ projects which helped enrich city canvas and add more elements to the metropolitan life. Here we collected both projects with a social twist, revolving around the idea of making a city a better place to live, and works with a vivid advertising component, such as branded bus shelters, giant interactive billboards and shop windows, which broadened physical borders of the cities.

Inspired by the notorious WikiLeaks project, Kia launched its own non-serious media website, “dedicated to bringing important news and information” about the upcoming all-new redesigned and re-engineered Kia Picanto. The auto brand encourages anonymous independent sources to reveal some censored facts which have been kept under wraps. The PicantoLeaks online designation provides all kinds of information for those who want to learn more about the new model and are not afraid to know the truth.

Following the success of its Super Bowl advertising debut last year, Kia Motors America is returning to the big game with a fully integrated and interactive marketing campaign incorporating TV, digital, print, social media and in-dealership components to introduce the all-new 2011 Optima midsize sedan. At the center of the initiative is a new 60-second spot that will air in the first quarter of Super Bowl XLV titled ‘One Epic Ride,’ and Kia will extend the campaign by giving away up to five Optimas through its ‘One Epic Contest.’