• by Karl Greenberg , October 18, 2010

Kia is renewing its partnership with the National Basketball Association that makes it official automotive partner of NBA All-Star and title partner of the Kia NBA All-Star MVP award. This year, Kia is expanding its involvement with the league to include sponsorship of NBA Cars and the All Star game. Kia will also be title partner of Kia NBA Tip-Off and the Kia NBA Performance Awards.

The company's activities start with the Kia NBA Tip-Off '10, where the automaker will hold assorted activities to celebrate the start of the season. They include sponsorship of two two-hour television shows on ESPN. The first, "Countdown to Kia NBA Tip-Off," was Sunday. Next Sunday will bring the second of the shows.

The Irvine, Calif.-based automaker is using the Tip Off to promote the new Optima sedan that launched this month and will be Official Vehicle of the NBA. A new TV spot for the car shows NBA game footage.

Also as part of the Tip-Off, Kia gets media, promotions and ad space, and brand real estate on local and national NBA game broadcasts during the program. Kia also sponsors a countdown clock on NBA.com and gets its name on a Twitter hashtag.

For NBA All-Star and NBA Cares, Kia will back an annual NBA Cares event during NBA All-Star and will be title partner of the Kia NBA All-Star MVP award, which the league presents immediately following the NBA All-Star Game.

Also, the league is renaming the NBA Performance Awards (comprising Most Valuable Player, Most Improved Player, Sixth Man Award, and Defensive Player of the Year, along with the Eastern and Western Conference Players of the Month) the "Kia NBA Performance Awards." As part of that program, Kia will donate a brand-new vehicle to the charity of the player's choice on behalf of the four season-end award winners.

Separately, Kia sponsors 13 individual NBA teams. In March this year, Kia started a digital program with the league wherein people could vote for players they thought deserved the NBA Most Valuable Player award for the 2009-10 season. And Kia ran a sweepstakes around the MVP, where people could vie for a 2011 Kia Sorento, last year's Official Vehicle of the NBA.