Up to this point, the online car configurator has been the industry staple. However, the younger demographic of performance compact sedan shoppers in today's mobile-first, short-attention-spanned world is using them less and less.
Meanwhile, users of all ages continue to flock to the social platform TikTok every day, adding 50M US users in the last three years, with users aged 25+ up 26% since 2021. This is where we meet our future car purchasers and new Kia fans.
How do we meet and engage with future sedan shoppers to provide them with what they're looking for?
Designed exclusively for TikTok and featuring the all-new 2025 K4 compact sedan, the Kia TikTok Creator Configurator is an entirely new way to configure a vehicle, featuring entertaining video transitions that allow the user to build the K4 with the specifications they want and need — without ever having to leave the social platform. It seamlessly takes users from one trim level and color to the next – both interior and exterior – in the same fun and magical ways people enjoy on TikTok.
To bring the first-of-its-kind configurator to life, we collaborated with eight popular creators on TikTok to produce a series of engaging videos covering the most popular Kia K4 trim levels and options.
We launched the configurator on TikTok with a series of promotional ads that allow users to enter the configurator within TikTok by tapping a start button. Step one is selecting a K4 trim level. To do this, users swipe vertically through augmented reality video options. Users choose their favorite trim by tapping the heart button, just as they would in TikTok but with new functionality, then clicking next to select a color. Users then swipe vertically to scroll through the different color options, each with a unique and entertaining video option. Once chosen, the user taps the heart button and moves to more fun video options viewed in the same vertical scrolling manner. Once an interior option is “hearted” the user is shown the exact model they built with a credit breakdown of each creator video they have selected — allowing them to share their build with a local Kia dealer. The TikTok Creator configurator is an entirely new platform to build cars in fun, magical ways, using the same visual magic people enjoy in normal TikTok videos.
Since launch, the TikTok Creator Configurator has led to over 300K Kia K4 configurations. The campaign has also received over 40 million impressions, and growing.
