LEAGUE OF LEGENDS EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP
KIA & LOL
TO EXPAND THE WAYS OF COMMUNICATING WITH YOUNG E-SPORTS FANS AROUND THE WORLD, KIA MOTORS CHOSE TO SPONSOR ‘LEAGUE OF LEGENDS,’ ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR GAMES WITH 100 MILLION VIEWERS PER MONTH. KIA MOTORS STARTED SPONSORING ‘LEAGUE OF LEGENDS EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP (A.K.A. LEC) FROM THE 2019 SEASON, WHICH REACHED MORE THAN 840K VIEWERS AT ONCE.
OUR GOAL WAS TO CREATE A HERO FILM THAT PROMOTES KIA MOTORS’ TRENDY, DYNAMIC VALUE AND THAT CONNECTS KIA MOTORS WITH THE LEC LEAGUE, E-SPORTS FANS, AND FURTHERMORE, THE YOUNGER GENERATION OF THE WORLD.
OVERVIEW
3. TO CREATE A CONNECTION BETWEEN A VEHICLE AND A PC GAME
2. TO ANNOUNCE THE FUTURE VISIONS OF KIA MOTORS
+ THIS WAS THE BIGGEST BARRIER TO OVERCOME: HOW DO WE CONNECT THE STORY BETWEEN A PC GAME AND A VEHICLE WITHIN ONE COMMERCIAL?
+ OUR MISSION WAS TO COMBINE TWO DIFFERENT STORIES INTO ONE COMMON STORY.
+ E-SPORTS FANS ARE A PART OF THE YOUNGER GENERATION THAT ARE NOT CURRENT CUSTOMERS OF KIA MOTORS, BUT WILL GROW TO BE POSSIBLE ‘FUTURE’ CUSTOMERS
+ LEC FANS, E-SPORTS FANS, AND OUR YOUNG TARGET AUDIENCE GENERALLY DON’T GIVE MUCH ATTENTION TO COMMERCIALS UNLESS THEY PERSONALLY HAVE INTERESTS OR RELATIONS WITH THE MATTER.
+ WE WANTED TO PROVE OUR DEEP UNDERSTANDING AND AFFECTION TO THESE AUDIENCE SO THAT THEY WOULDN’T BE ABLE TO CLICK ON THE ‘SKIP’ BUTTON.
WE PICKED OUT THREE MAIN GOALS THAT WE HAD FOR OUR HERO FILM.
1. TO MAKE THE E-SPORTS FANS, WHO NORMALLY DISLIKE WATCHING COMMERCIALS, WATCH AND PAY ATTENTION TO OUR HERO FILM
NEEDS
WE DECIDED TO INPUT THE LITTLE DETAILS THAT ANY E-SPORTS FAN WOULD UNDOUBTEDLY KNOW INTO OUR HERO FILM TO GET A STEP CLOSER TO LOL AND LEC FANS.
‘E-NIRO’ WAS CHOSEN AS OUR HERO CAR BECAUSE WE FELT THAT IT WAS VERY ADEQUATE TO SHOW KIA MOTORS’ FUTURE TECHNOLOGIES AND VISIONS. IT WAS ALSO A VEHICLE THAT WAS MORE HIGHLY PROMOTED IN EUROPE.
TO PLAN A STORY THAT CONNECTS A PC GAME, KIA MOTORS, AND E-NIRO, AND TO VISUALIZE OUR PLAN, WE HAD TO GIVE ENDLESS TRIES. THROUGH OUR HARD WORK, WE WERE ABLE TO BRAND KIA MOTORS AS A PART OF A MASSIVE FESTIVAL CALLED LEC. WE WERE ALSO ABLE TO EASILY INTRODUCE KIA MOTORS’ FUTURE TECHNOLOGIES AND ITS ‘ELECTRIC VEHICLE’ WHILE ENJOYING THE FESTIVAL WITH THE ‘YOUNG’ E-SPORTS FANS TOGETHER AT THE SAME TIME.
SOLUTION
OUR HERO FILM WAS CONSTANTLY TALKED ABOUT AMONG PEOPLE DURING THE LEC LEAGUE AS THE UNIQUE GAME COMMERCIAL FOR E-SPORTS FANS AROUND THE WORLD TO ENJOY AND GET INVOLVED IN. IT WAS NOT RECOGNIZED AS A NORMAL, USUAL CAR COMMERCIAL.
RESULT
BEHIND THE SCENES
<ON JANUARY 2020, KIA MOTORS ANNOUNCED ITS FUTURE PLAN CALLED ‘PLAN S’ THAT INCLUDES THEIR FUTURE STRATEGIES ON MOBILITY, ELECTRIFICATION, CONNECTIVITY, AUTONOMOUS DRIVING, AND ETC.>
INTRO
WE RECEIVED INCREDIBLE REACTIONS FROM E-SPORTS FANS WHO VIEWED OUR 2019 KIA MOTORS LEC LEAGUE HERO FILM. ALTHOUGH IT WAS A CAR BRANDING FILM, THE MEANING IT HELD WAS MORE THAN JUST ‘VIEWING’ FOR THE FANS. WE ALSO SAW NEW POSSIBILITIES OF FILM AS IT GAVE THEM A CHANCE TO ENJOY ANOTHER TYPE OF ‘GAME’ WITHIN THE FILM ITSELF. USING THIS PARTICULAR EXPERIENCE AS OUR BACKGROUND KNOWLEDGE, WE WERE ABLE TO PREPARE FOR THE NEW 2020 LEC LEAGUE HERO FILM WITH KIA MOTORS.
<ON JANUARY 2020, KIA MOTORS ANNOUNCED ITS FUTURE PLAN CALLED ‘PLAN S’ THAT INCLUDES THEIR FUTURE STRATEGIES ON MOBILITY, ELECTRIFICATION, CONNECTIVITY, AUTONOMOUS DRIVING, AND ETC.>
BY ANNOUNCING ITS FUTURE PLAN CALLED “PLAN S”, KIA MOTORS DECLARED ITS TRANSITION FROM THE INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINE SYSTEM TO AN ELECTRIC VEHICLE (EV) SYSTEM. FUTURE MOBILITY PARADIGM WILL BE REFORMED TO BE ADJUSTED TO EV, WHICH ALSO RELATES TO KIA’S LONG-TERM GOAL TO GROW AS A TOP GLOBAL BUSINESS THAT LEADS INNOVATION.
FOR THIS REASON, KIA MOTORS IS PROMOTING EV MARKETING CAMPAIGNS MAINLY IN EUROPE AND USA, WHERE THE EV INFRASTRUCTURE IS MORE DEVELOPED COMPARED TO OTHER COUNTRIES, AND IS GAINING A LOT OF POSITIVE RESPONSE.
HERO CAR
<WE ALSO PAVED OUR WAYS AROUND THE GLOBE TO MEET THE OWNERS OF ECO-FRIENDLY VEHICLES>
DUE TO THIS REASON, ‘E-NIRO’ WAS CHOSEN AS THE HERO CAR FOR THE HERO FILM THAT WAS BROADCASTED ON THE LEC LEAGUE CHANNEL THAT 840K VIEWERS WATCH.
WE BEGAN TO THINK ABOUT THE WAYS OF RELATING ‘E-NIRO’ TO THE TRAITS THAT PC GAMES HAVE. WE STUDIED ABOUT 150 LOL CHAMPIONS(CHARACTERS), THEIR SKINS AND UNIQUE POWERS. NOT ONLY DID WE LEARN ABOUT THE CHAMPIONS, BUT WE ALSO LEARNED ABOUT THE ‘GAME ITEMS’ THAT WOULD BE USEFUL WHEN MAKING CONNECTIONS WITH ‘E-NIRO’.
WE FIRST SORTED OUT THE CHARACTER ITEMS THAT USE OR REMIND OF ELECTRICAL/MECHANICAL ELEMENTS WITHIN LOL. THEN, WE SOUGHT THE DIRECTION OF OUR STORY IN A WAY IN WHICH WE COULD IMPOSE A STRONG “ELECTRIC” IMAGE TO ‘E-NIRO’ THROUGH VISUALIZING THOSE ELECTRICAL/MECHANICAL ELEMENTS.
ELECTRICITY WITH LOL
<WORKING OVERTIME TO CONTINUE “RESEARCHING”>
GAMER INTERESTS
<LEC G2 WAS COMPLETELY DESTROYED BY LPL(CHINA) FUNPLUS PHOENIX IN THE LOL WORLDS 2019 FINALS>
THE FINALS DIDN’T GO THE WAY EXPECTED. TEARING THE FANS’ GREAT ANTICIPATION OF WITNESSING AN INTENSE, COMPETITIVE BATTLE, G2 SUFFERED A MAJOR LOSS TO THE CHINESE LPL LEAGUE’S FUNPLUS PHOENIX WITH A SCORE OF 3:0, A COMPLETE DEFEAT; THE FANS WHO WERE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE 2019 SEASON HAD TO FACE THE UNFORTUNATE REALITY.
WE WANTED TO ENCOURAGE THE FANS TO LEAVE THE REGRETS OF 2019 IN THE PAST AND TO HEIGHTEN THEIR EXCITEMENT FOR THE UPCOMING 2020 SEASON. THUS, WE BEGAN TO THINK ABOUT THE WAYS WE COULD DELIVER THIS MESSAGE OF ENCOURAGEMENT WITH KIA MOTORS’ ‘E-NIRO’.
“ENERGY” WAS THE KEYWORD THAT COULD REVIVE THE FANS’ EXCITEMENT AFTER THE LONG WAIT DURING OFF-SEASON, THAT COULD BRING THE FANS AND THE PLAYERS AS ONE, AND MOREOVER, THAT COULD CONNECT WITH KIA MOTORS’ FUTURE.
AND SO, IT WAS CRUCIAL TO FULLY CHARGE THIS “ENERGY”!
NOW THE COUNTERATTACK WAS ABOUT TO BEGIN THROUGH THE ENERGY GATHERED FROM KIA MOTORS, THE PLAYERS, AND THE FANS. “ENERGIZE. CHARGE UP!”
CONCEPT
