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The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism ambitiously announced Korea's new national brand "Creative Korea" and a logo inspired by the national flag, Monday.
However, some PR experts question whether the new slogan properly represents Korea.
The alliterative phrase was welcomed linguistically compared to the previous national brands, but the link between Korea and creativity seems weak.
The country has had a few earlier slogans including the most notable "Dynamic Korea" dating back to 2002, and tourism brands "Korea Sparkling" (2007), "Korea Be Inspired" (2010) and "Imagine Your Korea" (2014).
Michael Breen, a longtime resident in Korea and CEO of Insight Communications Consultants, said the slogan lacks creativity and does not represent the nation's core strategy.
"Just as a brand, it is okay and better than the previous Dynamic Korea. However, this one is quite similar to brands of other countries, combining an adjective and the name of the country such as Incredible India and Amazing Thailand, ironically not quite creative," he said.
The selection process of the keyword to represent Korea went wrong as it just aimed to gather opinions, he said.
"The idea of a brand is that it should capture a core strategy of a company or country in this case. If the core strategy of Korea going forward is creativity — creative economy, creativity in arts and education and valuing individuals — the new brand fits Korea's strategies," Breen said.
"However, it was chosen by a survey, not driven from the national strategy. That's the weakness of this slogan. That's just populism and doesn't mean anything. The brand should articulate the policy and strategy of the country, but it's not happening in this case."
He emphasized the importance of the consistency of a national brand.
"The national brand should be used consistently in order to be effective, and send a message to the world that Korea is a creative country, wants to be creative and values creativity," he said.
"If the next president changes the brand, that kind of rapid change of branding is quite damaging. The brand should not be identified with President Park Geun-hye or this administration. Instead, it should be related with Korea for at least five to 10 years."
Jacco Zwetsloot, director of business innovation at Korean law firm Hwang Mok Park, pointed out that the modifier "Creative" is too obviously linked to current Park administration's keynote policy "creative economy."
"Overuse of the word ‘creative' can lead to de-valuing," Zwetsloot said. "It can become like ‘freedom' in the United States as a kind of blank slate signifier for anything positive. It also leaves Korea open to critical evaluations by outsiders — how creative Korea really is."
PR experts agreed that the slogan itself is better than the previous ones.
Kim You-kyung, public relations professor of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, said it is the right time for Korea to change its identity from functional dynamism to emotional dynamism, approving of the new brand.
"Korea cannot be recognized as a dynamic country forever," Kim said. "Especially for Europeans, who know little about Korea, the slogan can make them imagine dynamite because of North Korea. Thus, it is proper time to develop a future-oriented national brand. The new slogan, Creative Korea, shows cultural dynamism and creativeness. The slogan is a future-oriented brand, as it includes Korea's creativeness and diversity."
He added that it is important for Korea to promote the essential identity of the slogan, rather than promote the catchphrase itself.
Still, appropriateness of the term "Creative" for Korea is a bone of contention.
KoreaFM's radio broadcaster Chance Dorland argued against branding the country as creative.
"Hardworking? Absolutely. Technologically advanced? Of course. I often describe living in Korea as living in the future to my friends and family back home," Dorland said. "But I don't pretend Korean students aren't forced to memorize facts and figures for tests that require no imagination whatsoever to get a perfect score, and that being successful here often boils down to who you know and what university you went to. I've interviewed countless Koreans for different projects I've worked on and they'll be the first to tell you their country needs more creativity and now the easiest way to show how much creativity South Korea needs is by reading the country's new slogan."
Lee Hyung-min, professor of the media communication department at Sungshin Women's University, said, "It seems to have reflected the creative economy, the current administration's main policy. It is good, in terms of meaning but the value and target of this new slogan is unclear."
Lee said that considering past cases, the national brand often changes with each new administration.
"If there are strong political implications, the brand won't be durable," he said.
Lee said the public will not be able to clearly say what Korea's national brand is, as public sentiment has not been formed.
"Public sentiment is necessary before popularizing the brand. We need a slogan that represents Korea's culture, history, identity and foundation properly — not a time-limited one. A superficial slogan is not effective in upgrading the national brand," he said.
Jon Dunbar, Park Jae-hyuk, Choi Ha-young contributed to this article.
