Holiday Joyride

The holidays are meant to be magic.

The holidays are a season of giving and a time for brands to show people what they really care about.

During the holidays, many people want to give to others and to their community — and they expect the same from companies.

89% of people are more likely to support a brand earning a profit if they also make a positive impact. They are 4x more likely to buy from a brand who they believe has a strong purpose, and 6x more likely to protect the company in the event of public criticism or a misstep.

Sharing values with a company is increasingly a reason to consider them over a competitor.

What if we made the holidays about giving instead of getting?

The season of giving is a time to show others how you care for them, whether choosing a gift, contributing to a cause, or volunteering in your community. But sometimes, showing you care involves some inventive thinking.

To emphasize human impact by encouraging people to give rather than just get at the holidays, Kia decided to forgo a traditional sales event.

Kia continued their partnership with St. Jude’s Research Hospital and made a donation for each new vehicle sold.

St. Jude is a non-profit children’s hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, that treats patients from around the world for childhood cancers and other illnesses. Treatments often take years and families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food.

Through our partnership with St. Jude Children’s Hospital, we found that hundreds of patients can’t go home for the holidays. 

So we took them on a trip to the North Pole. Without leaving the hospital.

Our goal was to help the hospital-bound children at St. Jude have a bright holiday. We built a wraparound, LED volume stage on the hospital campus with a Kia EV6 in the center.

From inside the parked car, families experienced a fully immersive Holiday Joyride that transported them through a personalized light tunnel, a colorful forest filled with reindeer, owls, and even flying narwhals, then through the northern lights as the vehicle emulated a flight to the North Pole.

Kia donated a total of $1.35M to St. Jude through the Holiday Joyride campaign.

Group Strategy Director: Tom Donovan

Associate Strategy Director: Kelly Slater

Creative Director: Sammy Glicker

Creative Director: Ben Sweitzer