Autoblog

VIDEO: Kia viral pits Nadal against tennis alien. And then it gets weird.

Alex Nunez — Fri, 23 May 2008 19:24:00 EST

Filed under: Marketing/Advertising, Videos, Kia

Follow the jump to watch the insane Kia video

Last year, Kia Motors signed tennis superstar Rafael Nadal to be the automaker's celebrity face in Europe. Nadal, the #2 player in the world behind the ridiculously good Roger Federer, is young and popular, and Kia's signing him seemed like a smart idea. So you'll understand if we're perplexed by the bizarre viral video Kia's come up with that uses Nadal's likeness to supposedly promote the brand.

Titled "Nadal vs. Alien", the web-only video is part of Kia's new marketing approach. In a post on the official Kia BUZZ blog that introduces the short, Global Online Marketing veep Jay Jungyub Yoo sets the table, noting that advertisers are focused on finding unique ways to get their messages out. It would seem that at Kia, "unique" is a synonym for "baffling" if the Nadal vs. Alien video is any indication. The only coherent message we're getting from it is that someone in the strategy meeting that spawned this concept clearly ate all the acid.

The claymation short begins innocuously enough, with Nadal playing tennis against an alien. Then the alien sprouts multiple arms, pummeling Nadal with tennis balls. Then (stay with me) a soccer ball hits our tennis hero, and the Alien becomes a giant goalkeeper. Nadal responds by doing a disco move and magically producing four miniature Nadal-pplegangers (think of the Heat Miser's minions from The Year Without a Santa Claus, only shaped like small, long-haired Spaniards). Then, after a little dance interlude (seriously), Nadal and the baby Nadals all start flying. And then it gets completely strange. The little Nadals change shape and the big Nadal shoves his hands and feet into them (uh, gross), forming what can only be described as a sort of organic Rafael Nadal Voltron. Nadaltron then slays the alien by kicking a soccer ball through its torso. Then our hero transforms, Autobot-style, into a Kia pro_cee'd and drives away. The end of Akira makes more sense than this.

Remember how Kia ousted Len Hunt and Ian Beavis over the supposedly unfunny soap-on-a-rope President's Day sale commercials? We can't wait to see what happens over this.

Follow the jump to see it all with your own eyes.

UPDATE: Looks like Kia's reconsidering this particular bit of marketing. The following update has been posted to the original BUZZ blog post:

- Notice -

Thank you to everyone for their feedback. Upon review of the comments, we have decided to remove the video for the time being as we believe there is some content that is not appropriate. We will consider reediting some of the content and reposting at a later date. In the mean time, here's a short version of the video for you.

[Source: Kia BUZZ]

Continue reading VIDEO: Kia viral pits Nadal against tennis alien. And then it gets weird.

VIDEO: Kia viral pits Nadal against tennis alien. And then it gets weird. originally appeared on Autoblog on Fri, 23 May 2008 19:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Frankfurt 2007: Huffenpuff Edition (Random, funny and cool stuff)

John Neff — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 20:30:00 EST

Filed under: Frankfurt Motor Show, Etc.

click the above image to view more random, funny and cool stuff from Frankfurt

We're still not finished with our posts from Frankfurt, but thought we would end this weekend with a collection of our most random, funny and cool shots from the show floor. We call it the Huffenpuff Edition, named after Frankfurt's central train station, or Hauptbahnhof in German, past which we rode on our way to the show every day and whose name we could never pronounce.

We've got a nice sized gallery chock full of the back of Bob Lutz's head, a pewter Lexus LS460, the world's biggest Fiat 500, a Mercedes CLS Wagon, smart car rollerskates, and more. Check out all the Huffenpuff Edition pics in our gallery below, complete with captions to help explain the insanity.

Gallery: Frankfurt 2007: Funny, Cool and Misc. Stuff

Frankfurt 2007: Huffenpuff Edition (Random, funny and cool stuff) originally appeared on Autoblog on Sun, 16 Sep 2007 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dirtiest Car Write-In: Woman crashes because garbage jams accelerator pedal

Dan Roth — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 14:55:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Safety, First Drive

We thought we'd found the filthiest car when we gave away a vacuum last spring, but apparently, Ann Biglan of Massachusetts wasn't going to be passed over again this year. Training hard to win the Dyson, Biglan had crammed her Ford Focus with nearly enough crap to fill a 10-yard dumpster. Perhaps the car was struck by lightning and the decaying organic matter came alive, Johnny Five style. While cruising along in Yarmouth, Massachusetts -- on fairly provincial Cape Cod -- the detritus rebelled. The accelerator and brake pedals were rendered useless as the Focus-turned-refuse-bin rocketed out of a Post Office parking lot, across a freeway careening into a Ford Explorer, backing over a sidewalk and finally coming to rest by smashing a flowerpot in a gas station parking lot. While charged with several violations by the local constabulary, we know that Biglan was just trying to get into top form for this spring's competition. Some athletes are tempted into illegal doping, and true AutoBloggers may also go to extremes, but let this be a lesson to you, dear reader. No Dyson is worth the danger of having your own personal Swamp Thing take over your car and smash it into stuff. Clean that thing up!

Thanks for the tip, Tim!

Dirtiest Car Write-In: Woman crashes because garbage jams accelerator pedal originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 13 Feb 2007 14:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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