Recently, as the popularity of sports has increased not only in Korea but also around the world, the number of cases of automobile advertisements in sports has been increasing.
Although streaming services are completely dominating the broadcasting industry and viewership is skyrocketing, many people watch important sporting events such as American football and the World Series on traditional TV.
Car manufacturers have begun using sports to heavily promote their latest products, attracting millions of viewers.
In fact, Toyota continues to invest heavily in NFL marketing, following Hyundai Motors as a sponsor of the Super Bowl halftime show last year and signing the NFL’s official truck sponsorship contract following Ford in 2022.
In addition, Honda received praise from many consumers by producing an advertisement featuring legendary F1 driver Ayrton Senna and Max Verstappen, the new F1 emperor succeeding Hamilton.
Kia, a domestic company, has also been using sports marketing for a long time in advertising both at home and abroad. Kia aired an advertisement for its three-row electric SUV EV9 during the In-Super Bowl broadcast of the final match of the NFL, America’s most popular professional sport, held in February.
The 60-second advertisement emphasized that EV9 is the first three-row electric SUV launched by a major automaker in the United States.
Due to the nature of the game being a single-game game, viewership ratings cannot be compared to those of the Major League World Series or the NBA Finals, so airing an advertisement for this game is a form of marketing that boasts maximum efficiency while bearing enormous costs.
In addition, Kia operates the Kia Tigers professional baseball team in Korea and is naturally promoting Kia Motors to fans by installing a home run zone at its home stadium, displaying new cars, and using its vehicles as bullpen cars.
