Dive Brief:

• Kia Motors USA will pre-release its eighth straight Super Bowl ad via Facebook Messenger on Wednesday, Feb. 1, according to a company press release.
• The automaker will utilize its NiroBot for Messenger platform for the ad launch.
• Kia has had over 500,000 engagements since NiroBot launched last November. Per Michael Sprague, chief operating officer and EVP at Kia Motors America, Kia’s ad launch is the first time a Facebook Messenger bot has been used to debut a Super Bowl ad.

Dive Insight:

Kia tapping Facebook Messenger to debut the centerpiece of its Super Bowl marketing strategy, and to do it around its Niro vehicle, points to the growing importance of messaging apps. These apps have proven popular with users, but have only recently started to serve as a concrete marketing channel for brands, establishing better lines of one-to-one communication with consumers.

For its part, Facebook has actively made Messenger a very marketer-friendly platform with clearly defined rules on promotional messaging that keep marketers from having to guess what is and is not allowed for adding the capability for in-app payments. In November, Facebook also rolled out sponsored messages on Messenger, allowing brands to re-target consumers who have already entered into app conversations, as well as a new ad format that ties Facebook’s main newsfeed back to the messaging app.

While Facebook has led much of the conversation around messaging marketing stateside, other players are edging into the space. Apple's iMessage, in particular, has been establishing a more robust branded app marketplace, and McDonald's recently ran an interesting Big Mac sauce giveaway via the platform.