In 2022, KIA tapped SoundCloud to bring its brand positioning - “Movement that Inspires” - to life with cutting edge artists from the SoundCloud platform. The resulting Labor of Love series, featured five SoundCloud musicians, driving KIA Sportages and sharing what inspires them outside of making music. From writing poetry, diving, and cooking to illustration, and nature photography, the artists demonstrate how their unique labors of love continue to drive and inspire their creative processes.
The artists featured in the series - ROSEMARIE, Win & Woo, riela, Heather Sommer, and Bathe’s inspirations - connected with audiences, and all saw notable increases in fan engagement. Following the release of Labor of Love, views for Heather Sommer’s video “One Size Fits All” increased by over 746K%, while ROSEMARIE’s “Crossed” saw an increase in likes by over 10,800% on SoundCloud.
Collectively, the campaign produced over 42M impressions across newsletters, prestitial, promoted tracks, social media, and Pandora mobile media ad units, amplifying brand awareness for all of the brands behind the project. Following the release of the episodes, SoundCloud conducted a brand lift study which saw a 1.5x uplift in its users that see KIA as an innovative brand. Through the study, SoundCloud users also expressed that familiarity with SoundCloud content on SiriusXM resulted in a statistically significant brand favorability uplift for SiriusXM.
SoundCloud sought to execute a campaign that organically showcased the 2023 KIA Sportage and highlighted when equipped with SiriusXM, that inspiration is at your fingertips when you’re on the move.
The team aligned on creating an original video series that featured emerging artists from an array of different backgrounds that highlighted the interests that excite and inspire them outside of the studio. This concept allowed us to seamlessly integrate both the KIA and SiriusXM brands naturally into the content.
Creating meaningful, high-quality content within an expedited timeline was the largest hurdle that the team worked to overcome. This challenge required adaptability and being able to come up with solutions on the spot to ensure we were delivering compelling content that felt true to the SoundCloud brand and our audience. As you can see from the final product, we captured the authentic voice of each artist, while meeting the goals set out for all brands involved (KIA, SiriusXM, and SoundCloud).
We aimed to showcase the 2023 KIA Sportage as a way to support the creative journey and help creators express themselves, while also positioning SiriusXM as the ultimate in-vehicle entertainment feature. This program is a best-in-class example of how to organically showcase and integrate multiple brands in a compelling and engaging manner while bringing in authentic stories from real artists.
From Heather Sommer’s self-expression through visual art, to Rosemarie’s poetry inspired baking, each artist showcased their unique creative journeys, by showcasing their creative outlets outside of music. Woven throughout these stories, the Kia Sportage, equipped with SiriusXM, served as a pillar tool for how these artists powered their hidden passions.
Thanks to a brand lift study executed by SoundCloud, we were able to obtain measurable results from this campaign. For example, familiarity with SoundCloud content on SiriusXM resulted in a statistically significant brand favorability uplift for SiriusXM. We also concluded that exposure to the campaign had a positive impact across KIA’s key brand statements – particularly that KIA is an innovative, inspiring and confident brand. Overall, the campaign successfully showcased the synergy between KIA, SiriusXM, and SoundCloud and effectively highlighted the creativity and passion of emerging artists while driving brand favorability for both partners.
By The N#s:
Over 650k views and a 93% like ratio on YouTube
Over 4M reach for the sponsored listening video on Pandora
Over 5M promoted track impressions on SoundCloud
Over 42M impressions across newsletters, promoted tracks, social media, and Pandora mobile media ad units
