agency : David&Goliath
VFX and director : Mark Romanek

Those hip hamsters of soul are back in a new ad campaign featuring "Party Rock Anthem," by the electro-pop group LMFAO. The Kia hamsters have rolled through suburban neighborhoods and urban streets and are now in a dark, video game-inspired world to "Share Some Soul," in a new ad campaign.

The new campaign will feature 30- and 60-second TV spots as well as in-cinema, digital, and social media elements, Kia said in a statement.

The 60-second spot, available now on YouTube (check it out after the jump), will make its television debut on August 28 during the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs). It will also appear in movie theaters starting September 2. A 30-second version will appear on network and cable television beginning September 5, and the campaign will also have a presence on Facebook, Kia.com, and YouTube. A LMFAO-inspired shuffle dance video submission contest hosted on the Kia Soul YouTube channel and Facebook page will also be announced.

"After just two model years, the Soul receives significant technology improvements for the 2012 model year and delivers class-leading power and fuel efficiency. Our new multifaceted campaign will continue to raise consumer awareness, perception and consideration for the Kia brand through online engagement, experiential activations and TV," Michael Sprague, vice president, marketing and communications, Kia Motors America, said in a statement.

Method Studios

Vaudeville 2005 (South Korea/U.S., 5 minutes, color) Director: Chansoo Kim

Chansoo Kim pays tribute to his grandparents in his interpretive animated film, Vaudeville. In this highly personal history of 1930s Korea, Kim uses a surreal setting and metaphorical incidents to illustrate a time when sentimental pop songs and crude comedy shows masked the adversity and impassable walls Koreans faced while under Japanese occupation. He worked long hours on the 2D animation, which took a year and a half to complete.



Chansoo Kim is an animator based in Los Angeles. He had worked as a graphic designer in Seoul, Korea for five years when he decided to pursue his passion from childhoood.

Kim studied animation in the University of Southern California, and produced short animated films using various techniques. His films, Woman in the Attic and Floating gained critical attention through the festival circuit. His new film, Vaudeville is currently touring the festivals.

Chansoo Kim

North Korean animation “Pencil Rocket” has been posted on the Internet video site YouTube. This animation, which was made for elementary school children, teaches the children how to use a protractor. However, the contents are comprised of hostility towards the US military and efforts to defeat them.

The story is as follows: The main character, Seok-Pal, is trying to catch a rabbit in the forest when a friend mocks him by saying, “All you do is draw those pig-headed American bastards in class and now here you are playing war all by yourself.” He then returns home and sits at his desk. The homework he has to do is on how to use a protractor. Seok-Pal is inciting his will to fight by drawing an American military helmet with the letters U.S. written on it in his textbook when he suddenly falls asleep.

In his dream the U.S. fleet is coming to attack. He and his friend try to defeat the U.S. soldiers by firing a rocket they have made from pencils, but they continue to fail because they can’t correctly set the angle. This is because they didn’t know how to use the protractor. Finally Seok-Pal awakes after suffering the counter-attacks of the American fleet. Seok-Pal states that he “realizes that he needs to study hard in class and listen to his teachers to become a good soldier of the people.” This leads into some math practice on accurately setting the center axis when measuring angles on the protractor.