Subscribe
E-Paper
 |
| A booth offering sandwich boxes and water bottles to international journalists covering the Hanoi summit inside the International Media Center in downtown Hanoi, Vietnam, is seen in this file photo. Courtesy of SPC Group |
By Kim Yoo-chul
Though the failure of the U.S.-North Korea summit in Hanoi has been considered a major disappointment, the summit was a "brand booster" for South Korea's food giant SPC Group.
During the Hanoi summit, SPC Group, which operates bakery franchise units of Paris Baguette and Paris Croissant, supplied 7,500 snack boxes, each of them holding handcrafted sandwiches made with specialty breads and rolls, and 10,000 water bottles to the International Media Center (IMC).
"Events provide marketers like us with a number of great chances to actively engage with audiences, at the same time creating increased brand awareness," Lee Yong-seok, chief of SPC's Vietnam subsidiary, said in an interview with The Korea Times.
"Events that provide meaningful experiences with meaningful timing allow brands to forge emotional connections, creating deep chances for personal engagement."
Lee said Group Chairman Hur Young-in initially raised the idea of supplying them to the IMC, as Huh, who was born in North Korea, wanted to provide a kind of charity contribution to Hanoi, hoping for a successful outcome.
SPC supplied lunch boxes and water bottles last year to press centers for summits with President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Panmunjeom and Pyongyang, as well as the first U.S.-North Korea summit in Singapore.
According to Lee, Chairman Huh is a longtime supporter of the peace process on the Korean Peninsula. SPC Group plans to supply any further summits between the leaders of the two Koreas or the United States and North Korea, if held and open to the public.
SPC opened its first Paris Baguette bakery in Southeast Asia in Cao Thang, Vietnam, in March 2012. As of March this year, it operates 15 branches in Vietnam.
It was able to open over 1,000 stores overseas because of its successful localization strategy, in which it modifies its menu to fit local market preferences. "We have been focusing on Korean customers overseas but will be tailoring menus to the broader local markets," the executive said.
