Kia's brand road trip from worst to first

This event reports outlines how Kia, the automaker, has moved from humble beginnings to become a major success story in the US.

Kia's brand road trip from worst to first

Geoffrey PrecourtWarc

Kia Motor Corp. came to the Unites States in 1994 with two cars and a reputation as "a used-car alternative." And, according to Michael Sprague, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Kia Motors America, there was a disconnect between the South Korean automobile manufacturer and its intended group of new consumers.

"We started from very humble beginnings … but the quality was not good," he confessed to the Association of National Advertisers' (ANA) 2016 Multicultural Marketing & Diversity Conference. "The design was irrelevant. All we could sell...

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