Kia EV Owners Survive Zombie-Riddled Aussie Suburbs in Latest from Innocean

Kia has taken a fresh approach to promoting its new electric vehicle range, combining entertainment with practicality in a zombie-infested suburban setting.

Created by Innocean Australia and directed by Francois Rousselet, the campaign imagines a world overrun by zombies, where features like Smart Park Assist, Kia Voice Command, stealthy quietness, and a cool box ensure survival.

The campaign launches with a strategic tie-in to the Australian Open and aims to captivate both sports fans and electric vehicle enthusiasts. Creative partners Nick Cole and Pat Allenby told LBB they intended to bring something different to the Kia EV brand - which “has ‘survival’ written all over it” -  and stand out in a crowded market.

“Take that thought into a fun, fictional space and out pops a zombie apocalypse, where the only survivors drive various models in the range.

“Kia wants ads that are memorable, slick, have the car at the heart of the story, and entertain the audience.”

Fresh from directing films for Canal+ and A$AP Rocky, plus the John Lewis Christmas spot, Division director Francois Rousselet’s initial treatment “blew them [Nick and Pat] away,” and his storyboards even drew applause.

“What he boarded ended up being exactly what we saw on set, just heaps bigger,” they said.

“He not only wanted to bring the zombie apocalypse to leafy suburbia, but he wanted to give it a real summertime, sunny vibe, which felt really fresh for the zombie genre.

“We loved how he wanted to give each zombie a distinctly Aussie personality - a female fitspo zombie wearing Crocs carrying a KeepCup and dusty council worker zombies, for example.”

More than 100 movement artists transformed into Aussie zombies, including actors Luke Arnold, Tess Haubrich, and Chloe Zuel, as well as special guest Jamie Durie. Innocean “worked with content creators to expand the world we built. Even in the apocalypse, creators are hustling.”

The campaign leverages Kia’s Australian Open sponsorship, and features bespoke, piece-to-camera content telling a larger narrative of life in the apocalypse.

Nick and Pat said the Australian Open warranted the campaign’s “epic” scale.

“It’s probably the biggest platform during the year to launch a campaign.”

The EV range, including the EV3, EV5, and EV9, follows the debut of Kia’s first ute, the Kia Tasman, last year. That vehicle entered the highly-competitive ute market with a star-studded campaign from Innocean, ‘Kia’s Getting a Ute’. This time around, the agency had the same brief: help the brand stand out in a cluttered category.

“Unlike other car brands, they have a full range to choose from at varying price points,” Nick and Pat said.

“If the campaign serves that up in a memorable and entertaining way, then we’ll take it.”

Kia Australia GM marketing, Dean Norbiato, agrees, adding, “A zombie apocalypse set against sunny Australian suburbia is a unique creative playground to showcase Kia’s EV range in a genuinely entertaining way.”

At the end of last year, Innocean Australia hired Brendan Willenberg as ECD to replace Wesley Hawes, who became CCO at 72andSunny.

“I think I’ll bring a creative maturity burst, not necessarily through just work but throughout the customer journey as a whole,” he told LBB in an exclusive interview. 

Innocean’s latest for Kia rolls out across social, digital, and TVC.