KIA Badging and Marketing

[NYLAWBIZ]

So, as I understand it, KIA badged the Stinger with their name prominent because a major marketing purpose for the Stinger is to elevate the brand, and they wanted the world to know that a Stingier is a KIA. Fair enough. But IMHO, they would be better off keeping the KIA name small initially, and each model year make the badging more KIA-centric. A phase in, so to speak.

Clearly, KIA wants the car to garner plenty of positive attention, and it does. But what I have learned since re-badging and removing KIA from the exterior, is that people give the car a lot more face time, when they try to figure out what it is. It is an eye catcher, for sure, that's why people take the time to try to figure out what the car is. If my car still said KIA front and back, I think it would get a lot less attention.

I think KIA should have just placed the word "KIA" in small a typeface, discretely somewhere on the exterior, so you have to look for it, to find it. Each subsequent model year, make the KIA name more prominent. After five model years, have the KIA logo prominent as it is currently.

What do you think?

 

[Kia Stinger]

So, as I understand it, KIA badged the Stinger with their name prominent because a major marketing purpose for the Stinger is to elevate the brand, and they wanted the world to know that a Stingier is a KIA. Fair enough. But IMHO, they would be better off keeping the KIA name small initially, and each model year make the badging more KIA-centric. A phase in, so to speak.

Clearly, KIA wants the car to garner plenty of positive attention, and it does. But what I have learned since re-badging and removing KIA from the exterior, is that people give the car a lot more face time, when they try to figure out what it is. It is an eye catcher, for sure, that's why people take the time to try to figure out what the car is. If my car still said KIA front and back, I think it would get a lot less attention.

I think KIA should have just placed the word "KIA" in small a typeface, discretely somewhere on the exterior, so you have to look for it, to find it. Each subsequent model year, make the KIA name more prominent. After five model years, have the KIA logo prominent as it is currently.

What do you think?

Not everyone will agree, but this is exactly the way I feel. Many people, most people even, won't even give the car a chance with the KIA badges on it. With the KIA badges removed, it gives people a chance to fall in love with it FIRST - and THEN find out that it's "a horrific KIA and they should have never fallen in love with it!" -- but by then, it's too late.

I watched this happen

FOR YEARS

...with the Hyundai Genesis Sedan... I used to spend a lot of time at an outdoor mall in West Palm Beach where the local Hyundai dealer left a nice wing-badged Genesis Sedan parked every day. Almost everyone dismissed the car IMMEDIATELY if I told them too quickly that it was made by Hyundai. If I let the car sink in for a few minutes as they paced back and forth, looking in and out of the car - it was a totally different story.

Onlookers were, wait for it:

EMBARRASSED

...when they found out they were drooling over a Hyundai. ESPECIALLY if their friends were there - who quickly followed-up with numerous insults...

But if I were to let them all examine the car closely - thinking it were something else - a Bentley, perhaps - it was too late for those negative comments to follow after they learned what a POS it actually was... THAT (POS) is sarcasm...

 

[ScottM]

I'm on the opposite side of things. I think, leave the badges and let everyone see what it is. Yes, some will dismiss it as a KIA... but the idea (for me anyway) is for people to know right away that the badass car that just passed them or the badass car that they just saw while walking into taco bell is a KIA. The second, just happened today. I know, I'll be paying for the taco bell eats later tonight. In any event, I think the badging could look better...but to take away the KIA symbol implies that it's not a KIA and it is a KIA and darn it...I'm proud! Not to say that those who rebadge are not proud, I'm just saying I want it to be as it is so that there are no misconceptions. It's a KIA...I know it's a KIA, you know it's a KIA and that's that! FYI, I got all fired up typing that last line. Must be the taco bell fire sauce kicking in...

 

[NYLAWBIZ]

My comment was from a marketing standpoint, not one based upon personal principles.

 

[ScottM]

My comment was from a marketing standpoint, not one based upon personal principles.

Oh.

So, yeah...the KIA badge could look better.

 

[Soca Boy]

I think the Stinger is a car that a few people know about now, you’ll get a lot of looks because of the style. The design is a head turner if you’re rocking a KIA/E/K logo. I would say KIA did a great job marketing the Stinger since “Stinger” only appears on the rear in small letters. They want people to know it’s a KIA.

 

[Sensibly Spirited Driver]

One of the stranger things I've found, driving this car, is the girls waving at me. I think guys are more likely to be status-insecure about car brands. If a girl sees a cool car, she looks at the driver, not the badge. At least, that's been my experience.

 

[dashnell]

The way I see it, driving a Kia doesn't make me cool, I make driving a Kia cool. I rock the black oval and when I tell people I got a new car, they ask what and I say "a Kia Stinger" and they scrunch their brows and I show them a pic and tell them the specs and they're looking at Kia differently.