The multi-platform push runs throughout the remainder of basketball season to include television, digital, and social media elements

Kia has launched a new advertising campaign themed, The Truth, featuring 11-time NBA All-Star LeBron James. With sales of the automotive giant’s rear-drive luxury sedan on the up, the professional athlete and avid car collector is tackling the incredulity of naysayers by proving that the variant is ‘Fit for a King.’

In 2014, he tweeted, “Rolling around in my K900. Love this car!” and later stated that he was a K900 driver before becoming Kia Motors’ luxury ambassador. In response, some took to social media to question the validity of his claims. In the first of the three spots which complete the latest series of commercials, he takes the sceptics on.

Titled, Ten Mil, the said commercial is centred round James’ comeback to one netizen named Trey Herbert (@TH) who tweeted, “I’ll bet anyone $10,000,000 that LeBron doesn’t roll up to the games in a Kia.” A spot executed in true cheeky style, it eliminates any doubt over the star player’s affinity with the brand and K900 model.

James is captured assembling a team of experts in his garage command post to prove he drives a Kia K900 while he cooks up a quirky retort to match. Meanwhile, the other two videos—1,000% and Spaceship—are an answer to a couple of very real tweets, beginning with the one which reads: “LeBron drives a Kia like I fly a spaceship.”

James assumed the role of K900 luxury ambassador in October 2014 after reaching out to Kia, the official automotive partner of the NBA, for a first-hand experience with the flagship sedan aimed at confident, independent thinkers. The campaign was developed by David&Goliath, Kia’s advertising agency of record.

The third and final spot is a direct response to a tweet designed to challenge: “There’s a thousand percent chance that there’s a zero percent chance that LeBron drives a Kia.” All three can be viewed on cable and network NBA programming as well as the carmaker’s social and digital platforms.

“The K900 exemplifies the incredible transformation of the Kia brand, and as a tastemaker who is not afraid to go his own way, LeBron James plays an important role in our efforts to change perception by challenging consumers to discover the new Kia,” said Tim Chaney, VP of Marketing Communications at Kia Motors America.

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