IRVINE, Calif., June 18, 2002 – Kia’s advertising campaign has won a coveted Gold Effie Award, claiming top honors in the automotive category at the American Marketing Association’s annual Effie Awards held recently in New York. Kia’s win was for the overall impact of the advertising during the course of the year, which included the launch of the Optima mid-size sedan and the Sedona minivan.

The brand campaign titled “Gateway,” created by davidandgoliath in Los Angeles, significantly improved brand opinion and imagery and instigated dramatic shifts in purchase consideration, demand as well as sales, according to the AMA. The advertising was recognized for shifts in brand awareness as a whole and in relation to competitors spending much greater advertising dollars. Last year Kia sales were up 40 percent in a category that was down three percent.

“Kia’s success in the U.S. is a result of many factors, from great products and sales to clever and insightful marketing and advertising,” said Peter Butterfield, Kia’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. “We’re pleased davidandgoliath’s hard work earned them high praise from their peers.”

“Our aim was to create an impactful campaign that captured the culture and personality of the Kia brand,” said Skip Sullivan, davidandgoliath’s president and chief operating officer. “We’re so pleased that this campaign for Kia was recognized as first class branding.” The Effie Awards were founded in 1968 by the American Marketing Association to recognize the “real world” work of agency/client partnerships that create, manage and build brands that have become a part of the American landscape.

The Effie is presented annually in recognition of the year’s most effective advertising campaigns that have delivered superior results in meeting the objectives they were designed to achieve.

Kia posted record sales of 223,726 units for calendar year 2001, representing a 39 percent increase from the record sales of 160,606 units in 2000.

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