John Bache, Kia’s head of customer communications (left) with Sophie Raworth and Autotorq’s Branson Atterbury

More than 10,000 customers can’t be wrong. With an average score of nine out 10, Kia’s decision to post all customer reviews on the independent review site Reevoo was the right one.

At the heart of the decision for the Korean manufacturer was how to steer someone in the decision-making process to choosing its product ahead of a competitor’s. Kia’s answer was to turn its customers into potential advocates.

	BEST MANUFACTURER DIGITAL INITIATIVE

“It’s meant to create advocates in a simple and genuine way so that future customers have all the tools they need to make a decision,” Kia said of the strategy. “But it’s also meant to feed back into our business and motivate us and our dealerships to be the best in the industry.”

Understanding the growing influence of the internet on car-buying choice, the Reevoo partnership harnessed the internet’s power, providing shoppers with facts they need, but crucially keeping them from going elsewhere to find this information.

While Kia may have followed BMW in its use of Reevoo, the awards’ judges acknowledged that the wholehearted commitment to the idea and its integration into the fabric of Kia’s presentation to the market was risky, continued to build momentum – particularly by involving the dealer network – and stood as a true digital initiative.

Kia is the first company to use Reevoo as the basis for its advertising, from television and digital to dealership and fleet.  Users reading reviews have been found to be 484% more likely to request a brochure, 300% more likely to book a test drive and more than 500% more likely to search for their local Kia dealer.

As traffic to Kia’s and dealer websites grew, the brand enjoyed double-digit percentage increases in car registrations.

Also shortlisted: Kia Motors UK – dealer pay-per-click (PPC) programme; Mazda Motors UK; Seat UK.

Previous winners: New category.

Category sponsored by autotorq.