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Kia's Robo Dog Initiative Helps Over 22,000 Shelter Animals Find New Homes

If you watched the Super Bowl back in February this year, you might remember Kia America's spot, Robo Dog, advertising the Kia EV6. The brand announced today that more than 22,000 shelter animals in the United States have found their forever home as a result of Kia's collaboration with The Petfinder Foundation.
Kia EV6 and Robo Dog 6 photos
Photo: Kia
Kia EV6 Super Bowl adKia EV6 Super Bowl adKia EV6 Super Bowl adKia EV6 Super Bowl adKia EV6 Super Bowl ad
The Robo Dog commercial was one of the most memorable ones featured at the Superbowl. The video garnered over two million views on YouTube and received lots of positive feedback. It starred Robo Dog, an adorable robot puppy, chasing after the Kia EV6.

Long story short, the dog looked really lonely in an electronics store until it spotted a young man unplugging his Kia EV6 before driving off. Robo Dog chases the car through the city, jumping even on rooftops, and then leaps into the EV6 from a great height. Mid-air, moments before landing, Robo Dog's battery runs out. We find out he's just fine as the young man charges him up and takes him along for the ride. All this while Bonnie Tyler's hit song from 1983, Total Eclipse of The Heart, is playing in the background.

Kia's partnership with The Petfinder Foundation started in February 2022, and Kia donated $500,000 (€469,390) to help cover adoption costs. Ten months later, the results have paid off – 22,422 animals in the United States have now been adopted.

The Vice President of Marketing at Kia America, Russell Wager, said, "Kia is dedicated to giving back, and helping more than 22,000 shelter animals find new homes is proof that initiatives like this work and improve local communities, in this instance by easing the burden of overcrowding on local animal shelters nationwide."

An innovative move by the brand accompanied the commercial spot: Kia released a series of NFTs based on Robo Dog. The first 10,000 NFTs were free, but the company also created an additional 10,000 generative NFTs. Generative means that an algorithm in a program randomly selected and combined predesigned art layers, making the resulting NFT unique.

These special designs could be purchased, with 90% of sales proceeds going to the Petfinder Foundation. Moreover, a 10% royalty was written into the smart contract on the blockchain. Every time a Robo Dog NFT was resold on a participating secondary market, 10% of the revenue was directed to the foundation.

The Executive Director of The Petfinder Foundation, Toni Morgan, said, "We are so honored to partner with Kia America. Their generous donation helped countless animals find loving and forever homes in 2022."

The initiative was part of Kia's Accelerate the Good Program; since 2019, the brand has donated over $14 million (€13.1 million) to various causes. The latest donations accompanied key announcements made by Kia, such as the ten millionth vehicle sold in the United States or the opening of a new assembly plant in the state of Georgia.

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About the author: Mircea Mazuru
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Starting out with a motorcycle permit just because he could get one two years earlier than a driver's license, Mircea keeps his passion for bikes (motor or no motor) alive to this day. His lifelong dream is to build his own custom camper van.
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