Friends, here’s a year-end story to warm the hearts of the world’s most loyal automotive enthusiasts. Kia, partnering with The Petfinder Foundation, spent the past year working to find forever homes for sheltered animals. By the end of 2022, 22,422 furry friends now have homes thanks to the efforts of these companies – and a tiny robot dog.
You remember Robo Dog, right? It was a 2022 Kia Super Bowl ad featuring a totally adorable wide-eyed electronic doggy who saw a man charge a Kia EV6 and fall in love. Robo Dog chases cars, runs and jumps all over town trying to catch up. Sadly, the battery-powered dog lost power and died right before landing in the front seat, but the story doesn’t end there. Robo Dog’s eyes open to see the Kia driver smiling as the EV6 charges. In a sea of automotive commercials for the Big Game, it’s arguably the best of them all.
However, what may have escaped your attention are other commercial missions. This served as the starting point for the partnership, led by a $500,000 donation from Kia to help cover pet adoption costs. The automaker also commissioned a free 10,000 NFT Robo Dog, followed by a second round of 10,000 sold, with most of the sale price going to The Petfinder Foundation.
Additionally, a 10 percent royalty is written into a contract on the blockchain for all The official NFT Robo Dog. Whenever one is sold on the secondary market, The Petfinder Foundation feels the sale. So far, the Robo Dog NFT campaign has netted other $100,000 to help animals get out of shelters and into homes.
“Kia’s dedication to giving back and helping more than 22,000 shelter animals find new homes is proof that initiatives like this work and enhance local communities, in this case by easing the burden of overcrowding at local animal shelters nationwide,” said Russell Wager, Kia Representative. America’s President of Marketing.
We don’t know if Robo Dog’s adventures will continue. We’ve reached out to Kia hoping to find out more, but however you slice it, artificial puppies have made a huge difference in the lives of thousands of real-world pets. That’s a pretty good job for a minute-long commercial and an irresistible pair of puppy eyes.