SK Telecom and Samsung Card are Enjoying Very Effective World Cup Promotion.

There are 2 companies that are frantic with joy while the Korean football team is playing fantastic games in the World Cup. SK Telecom and Samsung Card are they.

Although they are not official sponsors of the World Cup, they are enjoying as effective promotions as the official sponsors, such as KT (formerly, Korean Communications) and Hyundai Motors, with the association marketing. Of course, the advertising costs are incomparably low.

SK Telecom has supported ‘the Red Devils,’ who are called as the 12th warrior of the Korean national team, since last October and has showed a TV commercial featuring them, and makes an unexpected success. Especially ‘the World Cup cheer’ and the fight song ‘Oh~ Fight Korea,’ which tie the whole Korean people together, along with the good plays of the Korean team make people think SK Telecom as an official sponsor. As a result, there is a prediction that the employees who helped the production of that TV commercial will be heavily rewarded.

The other ‘World Cup hit’ is the Samsung Card commercial featuring the Manager Guus Hidink.

This TV commercial, which shows the bench action of the Korean national team, is winning popularity with Hidink’s unique goal ceremony. Samsung card stopped this commercial furtively when the Korean team miserably lost to France and Czech Republic with the score of 0-5 at the end of last year; however, they restarted this commercial recently, and it makes a tremendous success.

On the other hand, the Samsung Electronics commercial featuring the Brazilian football hero Pele is not meeting the expectation because it does not suit the general concept. Samsung Electronics is in agony because the effectiveness of the commercial is lower than the Samsung related enterprise, Samsung Card even though they spent a large sum of money for model fee of Pele and other expenses to invite him to Korea.

Im-Sook Ha artemes@donga.com