automotive
Kia Launches Redesigned Digital Experience Via Elephant
- by Tanya Gazdik , September 2, 2019
Kia Motors America is launching a completely redesigned digital experience via a new agency partner, Elephant.
The redesign is the result of more than 18 months of customer research and consumer testing on the site’s functionality, design and usability. The site was recently unveiled in the United States and India and will eventually be rolled out globally.
The new digital experience aims to redefine the relationship between consumer and automotive manufacturer and provide the best online experience, says Michael Cole, chief operating officer and executive vice president, Kia Motors America. Customers are provided with solutions based on their individual needs and ones that instantly and intuitively support their shopping decisions, he adds.
The “Buying Made Easy” process brings tools for new car buyers into a simple, step-by-step format. It helps consumers to build their ideal vehicle and then match it to an actual model on the lot at their local dealership.
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The humanity of the brand also comes to life in small details like showing how an SUV fits three surfboards in the back instead of listing the cubic feet, the company says. Or in the non-linear “Build & Price,” where customers can just pick the features by digging though different trims.
“Kia was up for questioning the conventional wisdom about what a manufacturer experience had to be,” says Kevin Kearney, executive creative director of Elephant, in a release. “As a creative agency, that’s the kind of challenge we love.”
The agency looked around the category and saw brands focusing on trims and specs, or trying to “innovate” by chasing trends like bots and VR, he says.
“We knew that wasn’t the way forward for the brand,” he says. “Our behavioral research showed us how emotional and personal buying a car can be so we focused on creating an experience that brings a refreshing dose of humanity to the process in every moment.”
Kia still offers “Kian” the AI-chatbot designed by CarLabs, on Facebook Messenger.
Not sure what this is really about. I just got a car, so I did go through just about every "build your own" website in the U.S. I immediately went to Kia's. Same thing. Actually, the Alfa Romeo one (I got the Giulia finally) is way way better, better graphics, video, user interface, instant feedback on options... This article is bizarre.
Why is the article "bizarre?" Kia hired a new agency and revamped their website, what don't you understand?
Because it talks about something that basically is exactly the same thing as every other car manufacturer as if it was (1) Unique (2) more insightful than the rest and (3) easier to use... did you personally try the Kia site vs., say, Alfa Romeo, BMW, Subaru, Honda and Hyundai?
It is bizarre because it is absolute PR, not a real article.
Yes, I tested out the Kia website and it is much different than the previous iteration. This article isn't about what other automakers are doing, it's about what Kia is doing, and this is a big change for them. Did you go on their website 6 months ago? I think you are comparing apples to oranges. You really think Kia and Alfa should have similar websites? Now THAT is bizarre.
Tanya -- apart from your total defensiveness... why would it be bizarre for Alfa and Kia to have the same user experience? Alfa (and BMW, and Hyundai) have a much better experience, one can see options, costs, in some cases, videos and moving images of what the cars look like. Actually, on all of them there are 360 degree views so you can see how the colors and wheels look like, etc.
The website is about consumer experience, not the real life performance of the cars.
Maybe the Kia site is 100% better now. Maybe not. Who knows. Until the Stinger came along, Kia was not in my consideration set.
What I am responding to is the totally over-the-top article as if Elephant had done something unique, insightful, new when all they did was imitate something that every other automotive manufacturer already has. The high-school-breathlessness of the article is so completely bizarre.
"...we focused on creating an experience that brings a refreshing dose of humanity to the process in every moment.” With no even an attempt to ask seriously: where? how? in what sense? what makes it more "human" than, say, Honda?