Kia Motors America Readies to Turn the Page on 2020 with Massive New Year’s Celebration in Times Square

Kia Motors America, the official sponsor of the New Year’s Eve Countdown, rang in the arrival of 2021 with a groundbreaking effort for the all-new Sorento SUV. The campaign began in early December with a Sorento embarking on a coast-to-coast tour of the U.S. on a mission to deliver the iconic '2021' New Year’s Eve numerals to One Times Square in time for the Ball Drop. Joining Kia on the cross-country trip were photographers from National Geographic that documented the coast-to-coast journey and captured inspirational stories at select points along the way.

On New Year’s Eve, a new creative campaign featuring the most rugged and refined Sorento to-date aired on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest 2021 on ABC. Created by David & Goliath, Kia’s creative agency of record, the campaign includes a 30-second spot entitled, 'The World’s First Storytelling Machine'. The spot shows that the all-new 2021 Sorento is much more than an SUV, it is a powerful, highly sophisticated tool – a Storytelling Machine – to help us all discover stories worth telling, especially at a time when experiences are limited.

“To say it’s been quite a year is an understatement. With 2020 in our rear view, the New Year is like a blank page waiting for stories to be written. And the completely redesigned Sorento offers the kind of utility and power that can take you to those faraway places to uncover the majesty and unexpected beauty around us and fill the pages with stories yet to be imagined,” said David Angelo, founder and creative chairman of David & Goliath. “It’s a New Year and now, more than ever, we need new, positive, hopeful stories to experience and share, and the possibilities are endless.”

In the second spot titled 'Front Row', a woman takes her new Turbo-Hybrid Sorento - a first for Kia - up to a dramatic mountain outlook where she finds a set of theatre seats that have been mysteriously set up to offer an unparalleled view of the canyon below, as well as a stellar display in the night sky.

In addition to the broadcast campaign, the Sorento will be featured on New Tradition’s spectacular digital billboards on the north façade of One Times Square, the building that launched the annual New Year’s Eve Ball Drop tradition in 1907. Sorento’s digital billboards will be on display through January.

“Like everyone, we are ready to say goodbye to 2020 and hello to the new opportunities that 2021 will bring, including the arrival of all-new Sorento, the most advanced SUV Kia has ever built,” said Russell Wager, director, marketing operations, Kia Motors America. “New Year’s Eve marks a fresh start and a new beginning. It’s another chance for us to write our own story. The Kia Sorento, with its rugged capability and comfortable and flexible interior is perfectly equipped to take you anywhere your story leads.”

To recognise and thank them for their hard work and dedication, Kia will host frontline workers and their families so they can safely experience the thrill of New Year’s in Times Square for themselves. The families will be shuttled to and from Times Square for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in a fleet of 2021 Kia Sorento and Telluride SUVs.

Kia’s New Year’s Eve campaign started on 1st December with an all-new Sorento SUV and '2021' Times Square Numerals in tow, embarking from Kia’s Irvine, California, headquarters on a cross-country road trip to deliver the numerals to One Times Square. Along the way, the Sorento stopped at Kia dealerships in Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. At select points along the route, National Geographic documented the Sorento’s journey to help bring the stories from these locations to life through photography and video.

Throughout the road trip and on New Year’s Eve in Times Square, Kia has and will adhere to CDC recommended protocols regarding face masks and social distancing guidelines. Times Square New Year’s Eve on 31st December 2020 was a broadcast event and was not open to the public.