Seoul City Global Creative | Branding Korea
September 7, 2010
Thought I’d share the latest promotional poster for Seoul City’s global campaign with you. It will appear in Newsweek, The International Herald Tribune, The New York Times and The Economist.
23 Comments
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I guess I should have first judged the ad. As far as I am concerned, the ad is great, however even Seoulites know that the Han river is never that sparkling clear on any given day. If Seoul wants to brand/sell the world Korea, then South Korea needs to stop using the same propaganda methods that North Koreans have done even to this day. More importantly, the south needs to dig tunnels while they still have U.S. Tactical Aerial and Earth orbit Space support with precision laser missles. The United States has agreed to delay our troop transfer from the South Korean Peninsula for at least 3 more years. This request was done by the Korean Cabinet. As a Supporter of South Korea, the United States will always obligate the cost of protecting the South Chosun People from any North Chosun threat. We only ask the South Korean people to realize that when we send our Sons and Daughters to protect and die for them, they maybe one day will do the same for ours, if we ever are in need of their help.
K, I was thinking along the same lines. Two of the four major publications this ad will run on are American. However until Koreans can remove the stain of their northern brethren which overshadows international views of the peninsula as a whole it will be difficult to promote Korea as a place to come. People are just weary that they will be visiting a Global city that is literally at any moment under constant threat of being destroyed by flame and chemical warfare depending on the mood of a despot living just 3 hours north of Seoul.
Another hegemonist pipes in to agree that I think it’s too busy for American eyes — too much going on. And I think an American or Western attraction IS important for Seoul to build. A closer look at ONE or TWO attractive elements of Seoul (anything from Kwanghwamun to a mountain view of the city, changing of the guards at Kyeongbokkung, whatever) would be much more powerful to me. The poster goes in too many different directions to say anything, I think. And as a longtime Seoulite, I didn’t see any of the things I like about Seoul represented very clearly.
@ Lee Yang-soo , well most of the newspapers listed above are targeted for mostly western countries. In fact the NYT and Newsweek are US newspapers. So I apologize, I taught this was targeted to western countries especially Amercia . In fact, since of the newspapers are American own and distributed. I guess falsely assumed that the purpose of this was to branch out to Western countries because Korea is already a popular destination for other Asian countries.
Thanks Josh. And you’re quite right – it’d need to be printed really big for it all to sink in. Baby steps…
There’s a lot of detail there. It’s gonna have to be printed really big. A full page. Three’s also a lot happening there.
Greg, I agree it’s a step in the right direction. Not perfect but these things seldom are.
I think it is a great poster covers many of the good things about Seoul, to the mountains and greenery, food, shopping, history and theme parks.
@ K:
America is not the center of the world. Tourists from China, Japan, and Southeast Asia (who are all relatively familiar with Korean culture) are a much bigger and lucrative pool than America by itself. Although it would be nice to have a few more posters targeting Western/American audiences, I think it should be stressed that this is the Seoul City GLOBAL Creative, and in that respect, I think this ad does a good job catering to a more global audience.
@k: What do you think Americans want to see in an advertisement about visiting Seoul?
The photo itself has lots to discover in it, so I think it fits the slogan in that respect.
actually i think korea can and should target american consumers . but to me this poster does not do a good job doing that. How will it really interest someone who has never been to Korea and know very little about Korean culture? What is going to capture the American attention? I think the poster is a nice piece of art. But I don’t think it will capture the American public’s attention as it should. The only things that stood out from the poster was the tower and palace. The rest was ‘eh’. But the artwork is good .
I agree with Chris – it’s interesting as a piece of art, but there’s too much going on. It will probably make little sense to people who haven’t been to Seoul.
Beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all, but the poster works for me. Lots of color and stuff going on. It would definitely catch people’s eye in magazines.
However, I have to agree with comments about the slogan. It seems a little long and “over-worked,” especially when the “Infinitely Yours” slogan appears on the same ad. Why not just use that as the main copy? Center it, enlarge the font, and Bob’s your uncle.
Finally, I must totally DISAGREE with commenter K. I think Korea has, for a long time now, over emphasized the importance of American tourists. With the super-huge economies of China and Japan so near, it makes a lot more sense, at least to me, to cater to those tourists.
My two won.
Not very subtle is it? I mean, “Seoul” is on there 4 times, including the web address (and not including the “Sale” sign).
We couldn’t have cut that in half?
It’s definitely pretty. The colors are gentle. If the ad appears on the back page of the the New York Times’ A section, I think it might draw a few people in to have a look.
I don’t know if anybody is going to suddenly decide on impulse to go anywhere (Especially Seoul) because of an ad that they saw, but if I saw this on a subway, or above a urinal, I’d definitely have a look.
Hi Chris. Thanks for the feedback. Much appreciated. I wrote the copy below which is just an offshoot of my original slogan from last year – Infinitely yours, Seoul.
For me, what’s most important is that there seem to be notable improvements in Seoul’s global campaign endeavours. It won’t happen overnight, but it’s safe to say that it’s a step in the right direction.
Thanks for that Steve!
That’s awesome! I really like the look and feel!
An interesting poster, although I am critical of a couple parts:
First, it takes too many parts from too many places around the city. There’s too much detail for an ad – a piece of art? Sure – but people that have more than three seconds to look at an ad probably aren’t.
Second, this strikes as being something put together by committee, Apollo 13-style. Every element had to be used, no matter what – and as a result they’re all there. Only people familiar with Korea / Seoul would get this ad. Greg, did you have a hand in this?
I do like the poster. I think it’s a good representation of Seoul. The slogan…….well, maybe I’ve been around Korea too long, but Seoul does not excite me.
That is so cheesy. I don’t think most Americans would find the poster appealing. I am an American. The Seoul City’s global campaign need to do a better job at targeting American consumers. And I am not talking about the ones who are in Korea and have become somewhat adapted to Korean culture.
True. We used a similar phrase like that last year.
I like the poster very much including the slogan. However, 10 Magazine uses the slogan “Korea Awaits”, so “Seoul, where infinite discoveries await you” sounds less original.
Something better may be “Seoul, the city with infinite discoveries”.