Christopher Walken starred in a Tim Burton Batman movie, so he knows exactly how to make a crazy idea work. That's the kind of skill you need to prove that a 2016 Kia Optima is like a colorful sock, for the Super Bowl no less.
Walken's first Kia ad delivers a memorable monologue about mediocrity. It starts out vaguely with a story about how people who wear beige socks are worthless nobodies and then goes on to explain the Optima's awesomeness.
It might sound crazy, but the midsize sedan segment used to be full of boring cars. Because many are bought by fleets or are rentals, that's still partially true, especially for the VW Passat.
Before the all-new Honda Accord and updated Toyota Camry, Kia had the only decent-looking sedan on the American market. Hopefully, all the people tuning in to watch the Super Bowl will remember that and get the 2016 model.
You might miss it, but the ad starts with a really stupid pun: the husband enters his "Walken Closet," which is also the name of the clip.
Everything he owns is beige. But out of nowhere comes the actor/hero and tells him the Optima is "like the world's most exciting pair of socks. But it's a midsize sedan."
"There are a few special moments in one's career. Those times when you find yourself in an interesting place, making something you never thought possible, with someone you never thought you'd meet," David&Goliath (the people who made the ad) chief creative officer Colin Jeffery said in a statement. "Being in a closet with Christopher Walken and 600 pairs of beige slacks was definitely one of those moments."
Kia has made plenty of other celebrity ads, including one featuring the Sorento SUV and Piece Brosnan for the 2015 Super Bowl. And one year before that, Laurence Fishburne replayed his defining role from the Matrix in a K900 commercial.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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