Kia Niro 2017 Super Bowl commercial (with Melissa McCarthy) is all sorts of awesome

Does Kia have one of the big winners this year at the Super Bowl with their “Hero’s Journey” commercial? While many ads are going for different things, to us it’s clear that this is one of the ads at the top of the pack both in terms of being incredible entertaining, memorable, and a great vessel for the brand. It’s everything that you could want it to be.

Oh, and it also helps that you’ve got one of the best performers out there in Melissa McCarthy front and center for it. Whatever Kia paid her to be involved with their advertising strategy this year is certainly worth it.

The premise is fairly simple: Melissa has her Kia Niro (an environmentally friendly car) direct her to various places where she can try to spread a message of “saving the world.” Unfortunately, every time it blows up in her face. There’s probably some sort of sad message buried within here about the state of our environment under the new administration, but it’s probably best that you don’t think about it too much and just enjoy the fun.

What worked – McCarthy probably does physical comedy better than any working actor today, and she shows it time and time again here as she crashes and burns in terms of her attempts to make the world a better place. The song choice of “Hero” is incredibly inspired to go along with it. It sets the energy, and it makes you completely immersed in what Melissa is doing. Also, you have to pour a little bit of praise on Kia for still finding a way to feature the car that doesn’t feel like they are shoving it down your throat.

What didn’t – Maybe there’s not a lot of replay value here? Once you’ve seen Melissa do this a few times, you’ve got a sense of what the ad is meant to be.

Overall – That’s an extremely minor critique given that this is an outstanding commercial. It’s incredibly funny, super memorable, has great star power and in the moment really gets you pumped up. Also, and perhaps most importantly for the brand, you are compelled to look more into buying this car.

What did you think of the ad? Share now in the comments, and head over here to get some other commercials from the big game! (Photo: Kia.)