Hermit Hideaways

From very early on in the creative stages we’ve received a tremendous amount of feedback (both good and bad) regarding Seoul’s new global promotion campaign. As the slogan is mine, I wanted to shed a little light on how I approached the project in the first place. Essentially, the idea stemmed from the traditional closing of a letter. Here’s the way I pitched it in March at City Hall:

Seoul is such an exciting and vibrant city with endless possibility and opportunity. Yet, it is also a very warm and welcoming city. We tried many ways about how to best explain what kind of place Seoul is and I knew we needed to make it more emotionally appealing. The word ‘infinite’, has considerable impact and makes one think of ‘endless’, ‘limitless’ offerings but it is not very emotional. That’s when I came up with ‘Infinitely yours’. The phrase stems from the traditional closing of a letter and expresses a feeling of genuine warmth. By bridging these two elements together, the slogan “Infinitely yours, Seoul” has emotional impact and also expresses a feeling of endless opportunity. When I read it, I think ‘Seoul is here for me,’ ‘Seoul has so many adventures waiting for me,’ or ‘Seoul has everything I need’. That is the image that I wanted to express here. Not only that Seoul is endless with possibility, but that it is such a warm and welcoming place.

Honestly, I think the campaign has enormous potential. However, I also strongly feel that the visual needs to be strong in order to fully support it. As the slogan states, the warm and welcoming embrace of its people coupled with the endless amount of opportunities needs to be made strikingly beautiful in the campaign if it wants to attract the widest attention possible.