The KIA Rebranding Fail
Where do they go from here?
Last year KIA underwent a rebrand, changing their logo and slogan in order to level up their brand. It was meant to be represent a new era for Kia, unfortunately, it has led to more confusion than anything.
KIA has always been known as a budget brand in North America. The perception is that they are plain, practical, and affordable.
It’s about first impressions
The reality is that the first KIA car models introduced in North America were not great looking and not interesting to drive. This first impression left a lasting one and KIA would work for years to overcome it.
We know that the actual product was underwhelming, and that is one aspect that affects the perception people have of your brand, however it is only part of the equation.
I often have clients come to me saying that their client’s think they are cheaper than they actually are. After auditing their brand my response is typically “that’s because your brand LOOKS cheaper than it is!”
The KIA brand looked budget
Wanting to shake off the low cost, low value image, Kia launched an ambitious plan, more premium vehicles and their slogan and logo.
The only problem is that people think the brand is KN and not KIA. Take a look at the old logo vs the new logo. Can you see the confusion?
"The rhythmical, unbroken line of the logo conveys Kia's commitment to bringing moments of inspiration, while its symmetry demonstrates confidence," Kia said in a press release.
Unfortunately, 30,000 people every month Google “KN car,” because Kia’s new logo looks more like that than it looks like KIA.
Someone even created a website for KN cars. https://kncars.org
While I applaud the concept, this is 100% a design failure. So where does Kia go from here?
They invested heavily in this new logo and now it appears on cars, signage, marketing and advertising etc…
They have 3 choices:
1. Keep it.
2. Revise it.
3. Go back to the drawing board.
Before choosing, the bigger question KIA need to ask themselves is, how much business will they lose because people are googling the wrong company name?