Kia Motors America Collaborates With Zinio to Launch First-Ever Cross-Publisher Digital Advertising Network Featuring Interactive Design

IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Kia Motors America (KMA) today announced the all-new 2011 Kia Sorento CUV advertising campaign, already the largest marketing effort in company history, will now include the company's first digital magazine advertisement that spans 15 publishing groups through a collaboration with Zinio's Publisher Advertising Network (ZPAN).  ZPAN (Zinio.com/ZPAN) is the first cross-publisher ad network for the digital magazine industry and KMA is the first-ever advertiser to leverage ZPAN, reaching more than 45 digital magazines across several categories, including business, men's lifestyle, news, sports and technology.  Similar to the way songs are enjoyed digitally, consumers can read online or choose to download popular magazines containing the Kia Sorento ad which is optimized for the screen-size through Zinio.  Readers can activate and interact with enhanced features such as audio, video and live links. Kia Sorento digital magazine advertisements will run in the March and April 2010 issues of Car and Driver, Esquire, PC Magazine Digital Edition, PC World, Popular Science, SKI Magazine, SmartMoney, VIVmag and Yoga Journal, among many other titles, which are available on Zinio.com and Zinio's iPhone application.  

"Teaming with digital-publishing pioneer Zinio, this innovative campaign furthers Sorento's tagline – 'a departure from the expected' – by exposing the Kia brand to a wide variety of readers across iconic magazine brands," said Michael Sprague, vice president of marketing, KMA.  "ZPAN enables Kia Motors to convey Sorento's impressive attributes in a new digital format, generating consumer awareness in fresh, innovative and unexpected ways."

Sorento advertising will appear across 15 publishers, including Active Interest Media, Bonnier Corporation, Hachette Filipacchi Media, Hearst Magazines, Source Interlink Media, VIV Publishing and Ziff Davis Media.  In addition to digital, other components of Kia Motors' integrated media buy include print, outdoor and television, which kicked-off during the Super Bowl.

"Historically, advertisers have loved what magazines provide: big, attractive, full-color ads with fixed placements," said Jeanniey Mullen, Global CMO, Zinio.  "Zinio has created a way to reinvent the full-page spread, digitally and dynamically, with the introduction of ZPAN.  Kia Motors' commitment to providing the most innovative reading experience made the company the perfect match for our launch."

With two new vehicle introductions and several other key initiatives planned for 2010, Kia is poised to continue its momentum and will continue to build the brand through design innovation, quality, value, safety features and with new technology such as the recently introduced UVO powered by Microsoft®(1) infotainment system.  Kia Motors is in the midst of a dramatic, design-led transformation, which has been delivering dynamically styled vehicles in several important segments at exactly the right time, contributing to the brand's continued gains in U.S. market share.  The launch of the all-new 2011 Sorento CUV, the official vehicle of the NBA and the first vehicle to be built at Kia's first U.S.-based manufacturing facilities in West Point, Georgia, further enhances the lineup, and is now in dealerships.

About Kia Motors America

Kia Motors America (KMA) is the marketing and distribution arm of Kia Motors Corporation based in Seoul, South Korea.  KMA offers a complete line of vehicles through more than 670 dealers throughout the United States.  For 2009, KMA recorded its 15th consecutive year of increased U.S. market share and recently achieved its best quarter of sales ever.  Kia Motors subscribes to a philosophy of building high value, high quality, safe and dynamic vehicles.  Kia Motors prides itself on producing vehicles that are exciting and enabling and evoke the Kia tagline "The Power to Surprise."

Kia Motors America is the "Official Automotive Partner of the NBA."  Information about Kia Motors America and its full vehicle line-up is available at its Web site – www.kia.com.  For media information, including photography, visit www.kiamedia.com.

About Zinio:

Zinio, the world's newsstand, is revolutionizing reading.  Through digital products and services, the Company creates better ways for people to discover published content, get more of it and do more with it.  Zinio works closely with publishers worldwide to reinvent reading.  For consumers, Zinio enables the ability to shop for, search inside, read, share and save digital content in new ways and on many devices.  With over 50,000 digital magazines and books, and e-stores localized in 15 languages, zinio.com is the largest newsstand in the world.  Founded in 2001 and privately held, Zinio is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in New York, London, Paris, Barcelona and Taipei.

(1) Microsoft is a registered trademark of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

SOURCE Kia Motors America