After my team at MotorTrend developed and executed a spot that launched the all new 2021 Kia Telluride Nightfall Edition, Kia returned to us with a new request the next year:

Create and execute a broadcast campaign for the 2022 Telluride Nightfall Edition that would sustain the vehicle’s sales and retain its position in the forefront of consumer minds.

Kia’s parameters were three-fold: 1) Showcase the upgraded off-road features of the vehicle. 2) Inject more story into the spot than was present in the previous ad. 3) Go big

The budget was modest, the pandemic was still a consideration, and we had four months until cameras had to roll in order to meet the delivery deadline.

It was time to get to work.

My first task to the team was to define the overarching story for the campaign. Vehicle features would naturally follow. As we brainstormed, the same thought ricocheted through my head: how on earth are we going to come up with something great? And that’s when it clicked… point the cameras up.

A very long story short, we successfully pitched a spot that followed a paraglider as she raced the Telluride down a mountain. Entitled "Take the Leap", the story would be visually dynamic yet simple enough for vehicle features to shine through. Now we just had to execute.

The elevator pitch. The goal was to sell the through overall concept rather than focus on shot for shot moments. We used generalized VO and aspirational images to establish the themes of the piece while the copy told the overall story.

The full treatment. The goal was to expand the elevator pitch into a beat by beat narrative that also demonstrated where and how we’d highlight key vehicle features. You can see we compressed the beginning and removed the VO so as not to distract from the overall structure.

The VO script. The goal was to speak both to the characters in the spot and to the audiences watching it at home or online without coming across as cheesy or overly metaphorical. Note that while the final VO tag is slightly different than the one from the elevator pitch, it retains a common theme that binds the narrative together.

The shooting boards. The goal was to craft a document that would act as our blueprint and visually convey the entire story to the client. The director, storyboard artist, and I worked together to determine exactly how we’d bring the concept to life.

The core Post team was comprised of myself, our rockstar editor, and our kick-ass composer. The three of us collaborated to find the best balance of story, often A/B testing different shots and narrative moments with both our internal team and the client.

We spent countless hours experimenting with all types of instrumentals for the music too, ultimately landing on a combination of modern beats and environmental sounds that evoked the natural wonder that surrounded the vehicle.

The :30 hero spot played for over 1 year on broadcast channels, including during the 2021 World Series and 2021 NBA Finals, garnering millions of views across the country and sustaining the vehicle sell dealership sell through rate of 7 days.