Storydoing, word-of-mouth are at core of creative advertisement
Professor at Department of Advertising & Public Relations, Cheongju University
The nation's advertisement industry has an estimated worth of 14 trillion won in 2014, according to a survey conducted by the Korea Federation of Advertising Associations with 60 different advertising companies.
Earlier in the year, the advertising industry was expected to enjoy a bullish period thanks to the Sochi Winter Olympics in February, the Brazil World Cup in June and the Incheon Asian Games in September, but such a festive mood was extinguished in April when the Sewol ferry disaster occurred.
Viewing media trends, broadcast media in TV and radio are likely to keep last year's level of 40 percent of market share, whereas print media such as newspapers and magazines will likely see a slight drop from 2013. Outdoor and promotion is expected to enjoy a rise in market share, however.
Meanwhile, the new media advertisement market, which witnessed significant growth last year, including cable, general programming channels, satellite, DMB, IPTV, mobile and online, is anticipated to see rapid growth this year, surpassing 15 percent of the market share.
The overriding characteristic of the advertisement industry in the year 2014 is that the advertisers' main interests have been concentrated in content creation and word-of-mouth.
From the creative side, there are three main characteristics for advertisers. Firstly, storydoing has emerged beyond storytelling. Storydoing refers to what carries a story into action. A company works as a messenger in storytelling, but serves as a player in storydoing. The key point of storytelling advertisement is to gain consumers' sympathy about the story, but storydoing stresses an in-depth participation. One of the 2014 advertisement missions was the spread of enterprises' authenticity through this act.
Secondly, advertisements sought by consumers through online word-of-mouth were dominating. The teaser advertisement of “Delivery Race” got more than 1 million hits. “Virac Sikhye of Paldo,” an advertisement in which actor Kim Bo-sung made an appearance, using the word “loyalty” also got 1.5 million hits in three days. It indicates that advertisement is becoming something to enjoy, beyond its simple function to publicize a product.
Thirdly, advertisement of B2B companies is another characteristic of the market in 2014. The advertising copy saying “My father makes a fan in the sea driven by the moon's power. My father also makes an airplane engine that can speak,” was very impressive. The fan in the sea means the submarine power system of GE Shipping and the speaking airplane engine refers to an engine monitoring system of GE Aviation. A growing number of non-consumer companies are making efforts to manage their image on a long-term basis with easy and consumer-friendly advertisements these days.
One of the big issues for the 2014 advertisement industry was the controversy over the introduction of advertising regulations. In August, Korea Communications Commission introduced advertising regulations for the total amount of terrestrial broadcasting allowed in order to produce better content and build a foundation for boosting “hallyu” (the Korean wave). The issue was tabled for discussion at the parliamentary audit. Objectors to the system assert that it is a policy favoring terrestrial broadcasting. The introduction of the advertising regulations for a total amount of broadcast time, affects terrestrial broadcasters' ability to manufacture content. Broadcasters need to minimize viewers' inconvenience stemming from their viewing habits.
For models involved with advertising, actor Kim Soo-hyun and actress Jun Ji-hyun dominated the market. The two appeared in some 60 commercials and their explosive popularity in China has greatly contributed to creating “advertisement hallyu.”
In a nutshell, direct communication activities have been bolstered between advertisers and consumers through digital media in 2014. In the process, storydoing, word-of-mouth and consumer-friendly management have become the core of creative advertisement. Meanwhile, Kim Soo-hyun and Jun Ji-hyun have emerged as top commercial models representing the advertisement hallyu in 2014 ahead of the introduction of advertising regulations for total amount of terrestrial TV.
SK Telecom pursues ICT-nomics
Senior Vice President of Public Relations Office
SK Telecom
SK Telecom is honored to win the ‘Korea Times Advertisement Awards,'
The country's largest mobile carrier suggested new concept named ‘ICT-nomics' its vision for next 30 years while introducing three strategies – creating new values, delivering optimized values and sharing them with the society.
On Oct. 20, the International Communication Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference, which runs through Nov.7, opened in the nation's largest port city, Busan. This time, some 3,000 participants from 170 countries worldwide came to discuss global information and communications technology and its development plan.
Likewise, Korea is literally the leading country of the ICT business and SK Telecom has made efforts to bring about revolutionary change throughout the nation.
SK Telecom will continue its efforts to make everyone can enjoy the benefits of the ICT-nomics in the long term.
The company will also contribute to consolidating the nation's ICT competitiveness based on the world's first mobile network infrastructure and research and development capability, because a “change in better direction” is more needed than “faster change” in the ICT-nomics era.
SK Telecom's advertisement campaign in the year has focused on the value, which the company has been chasing.
The campaign titled “ICT-nomics – growing tree” carries the message: “Pursuing maturation, instead of growing,” by the image of children who stretch out their hands to the tree standing on a ladder and supporting the ladder.
It means growing is about “building up power by oneself” while maturation is about “going together.”
SK Telecom will provide differentiated services and values continuously to make everyone enjoy better opportunities, although fast technical innovation is the key of success in the telecommunication business world.
We are sincerely thankful for this award.
Doosan focuses on people, fosters talent in campaign
Executive Director
Doosan Group
First and foremost, Doosan is honored to have been conferred the grand prize for its “Our People, Our Tomorrow” campaign, and would like to thank the Korea Tines for the award.
The “Our People, Our Tomorrow” campaign was launched in 2009, and is now in its sixth year running. This campaign, which focuses on delivering messages of encouragement and support to our country's youth and highlighting the kind of talent Doosan values, has received the attention and affection of its target group. It has also become an exemplary public relations strategy for Doosan and as a member of the Doosan community, I feel rewarded.
The twelfth story of the “Our People, Our Tomorrow” campaign aspires to get across the following message: “No matter how great an idea, for it to be realized you need to overcome the fear of failure and take on challenges.” They say those who come up with flashy ideas are creative. But the people who truly change the world and bring about innovation aren't only those teeming with great ideas, but also those who “overcome the fear of failure and take on challenges.” This campaign reflects Doosan's thoughts on how to bring about innovation from our employees' brilliant ideas.
In a number of surveys on company PR advertisements, Doosan's “Our People, Our Tomorrow” campaign was voted most liked and most anticipated among college students. I believe this was because of our efforts to convey warm understanding and sympathy to our young people, who continue to agonize over their future and strive for personal betterment. Our campaign will in the future continue to reach out to them, and to focus on “people” and foster “talent.”
We ask for your continued interest and support. Thank you.
LG Electronics leads air conditioner technology
Director of Brand Communication LG Electronics
It is an honor to win the 2014 Korea Times Advertisement Award in the industry segment with our LG Whisen air conditioner brand. We are profoundly grateful to the award examiners, readers of The Korea Times and everyone who favors LG Whisen.
LG Electronics produced the nation's first room air conditioner in 1968 and has since continued to develop advanced technologies and products such as the first slim air conditioner, the first inverter air conditioner and the first two-in-one air conditioner, leading the history of Korea's air conditioner technology.
In particular, the “LG Whisen Son Heung-min Victory” model released in 2014 has the unique cooling technologies. The “ice cool power” technology is capable of making the temperature 4 degrees Celsius cooler and the “focus four-dimensional air-conditioning”function cools down every corner of the room.
We are delighted for all the customers' love and support for the LG Whisen Son Heung-min Victory air conditioner, within which we have integrated the knowhow we have accumulated during the last four decades. We would like to thank every single customer and feel responsible for being the air conditioner brand that represents Korea.
So far, we have focused on improving LG Whisen to present our customers with the best and the coolest wind. We feel proud of the trust for LG Whisen that our customers have sent to us, more than all the awards and appreciations for our technology.
We pledge to produce more advanced technology and show the faith and sense of responsibility for our customers to help them stay cool.
IFEZ becomes top biz center
Director of Public Relations Divisions
IFEZA
We at the Incheon Free Economic Zone (IFEZ) Authority are glad that we won the 2014 advertizing grand prize from The Korea Times.
This award reflects our continued endeavor and enthusiasm to turn IFEZ - established in October 2003 - into one of the world's top three free economic zones. As a first of its kind in Korea, IFEZ helped the nation strengthen national competitiveness by nurturing new growth engines.
In only 11 years, IFEZ has become a globally-competitive and environment-friendly business and residential center. In 2003, it attracted $1 million from foreign investors. Now accumulative foreign direct investment (FDI) has reached $6.7 billion.
Among notable global companies and organizations that call IFEZ their home, Green Climate Fund established its global headquarters there. The World Bank and the Association of World Election Bodies also set up their Korean office in the zone, as well as a dozen UN and other international bodies.
In addition, Songdo, one of IFEZ's three districts, has become a global bio-industry hub, with Celltrion, Samsung BioLogics and other Korean and non-Korean bio-pharmaceutical companies establishing headquarters and research centers there.
Foreign universities, including the State University of New York and the George Mason University, have set up campuses in the Songdo Global University Campus, with further U.S. and European universities planning to establish a presence there.
Besides a superb urban infrastructure, convenient geographical location and highly-educated human resources, we think our active public relations campaign has helped transform IFEZ into a competitive international business city over the past 11 years.
In the early stages, our aggressive advertizing significantly helped in letting the world know about IFEZ. We will continue to put ads in papers and promote the zone online to inform the international community of how competitive it has become, which should draw even more foreign investment.
KB to offer good services under new leadership
General Manager at Communications Dept.
KB Financial Group
KB Financial Group is honored to win in the “Korea Times Advertisement Awards.”
The country's biggest retail bank has more than 30 million customers who place their financial assets in its 11 affiliates, whose businesses cover banking, credit cards, securities, insurance and capital services. This means six out of 10 Koreans are customers of KB Financial.
Helped by customized services, KB Financial posted a 34 percent jump in net profit for the January to June period at 771.92 billion won ($730 million), up from 578.17 billion won a year earlier. The financial group expects solid earnings for the second half of this year as it tries to regain consumer confidence and boost profits.
On Wednesday, KB Financial selected former Chief Financial Officer Yoon Jong-kyoo as its new chairman. We are determined to offer quality products and services to attract customers under our new leadership.
KB Financial hopes to continue to remain one of the best loved brands among Korean banks. It has been awarded as the “most loved bank” in Korea by ChosunBiz, a local business daily, for the past four straight years through 2014.
As KB stands for Kookmin Bank and Kookmin means Korean people, we are offering products and services oriented to their needs under the message “Finance for Koreans.”
As shown well in the image of our company model Kim Yu-na, we are seeking youth and confidence in our financial services. Olympic figure skating champion Kim still remains one of the most preferred models by companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Telecom.
While fulfilling our responsibilities as a corporate member in society, we will come up with differentiated products and services to help customers in need.
We are grateful for this award.
New SM7 Nova wins top award for premium values
Operation Chief of Marketing
Renault Samsung Motors
It is a great honor to win the grand prize for print-version advertisement promoting our flagship new SM7 Nova sedan.
The SM7 Nova means much to our company. Like the meaning of its name ― a rising new star ― the new SM7 was born glimmering with a new upgraded premium European look in September.
From the onset, it was anticipated as the company's next locomotive that could elevate us as the country's third-largest player.
As for the new SM7 Nova's advertisement, it has been targeting opinion leaders as its customers who are looking for premium cars in the 2,500–3,500cc range. By earning the hearts of those people, we intended to create a so-called “waterfall effect,” where its improved image in that bracket could cascade into the rest of the customers and throughout all of our Renault Samsung Motors' cars.
On top of the new slogan “Good is not enough” we initiated early this year upon the launch of the New SM7 Nova, our marketing team set its goal to be “better and different.”
As the slogan suggests, we will not be complacent with the current popularity of the SM7 Nova.
Instead, we will strive to make a better future and create more value for our customers.
We believe that our efforts will pay off and the SM3, SM5, QM3 and QM5 will enjoy the same popularity as the new SM7 Nova. Taking this opportunity, we would like to thank our customers for their love and support of our brand.
We will work hard to return the favors we have received from them with our top-quality cars, and play a leading role in an era of innovative and leading automobile culture.