• by Karl Greenberg , August 14, 2009

Kia is bringing the new Soul crossover to 10 cities as part of a tour whose overriding theme is that the vehicle should be the car of choice for young, urban iconoclastic artists, musicians and auteurs.

The program, "Kia Presents the Soul Collective," comprises interactive events, test-drives, multimedia displays of artists' visual and audio work, and live performances by local bands.

Running through October, the tour visits Seattle, Phoenix, Chicago, Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Miami, Atlanta, Boston, New York, and Los Angeles. Open from Friday through Sunday in each market, the tour includes a raft of music, film, design, and gaming exhibitions by the "Collective," a group of emerging artists selected and curated by New York-based marketing firm Cornerstone.

Kathryn Cima, manager of sponsorships and promotions, says the tour is the first one focused on Soul. Kia will have street teams in the target cities handing out postcards and posters, and doing wild postings to promote the events.

She says the Soul Collective exhibitions will also get promotional mileage on local media and online at Twitter, Kia's Facebook page and on Kia.com and the forthcoming KiaSoulCollective.com. The sites will host information on the artists, digital samples of their work, free-content downloads, test-drive registration, and tour updates.

Online elements include "Making Of" footage and Soul Collective artists' content.

The Soul Collective will happen at warehouses and other convertible spaces in each city. "We will take over big, open spaces and make them our own," says Cima.

Cima says there will be three Soul vehicles for test drives at each event, with free tickets to a Sunday concert at each venue given to those who take test drives.

Kia has been using Soul to bring new, younger consumers to the brand. "Younger people are coming for sure, but we are still not happy with the age distribution; we had a really good July, with over 4,500 units sold," said a company spokesperson.