Football Rivalry Moves to TV Commercials

The rivalry between FC Seoul and Suwon Samsung in Korean professional football is so intense that the number of fans that attended their derby match on April 9, 55,397, was the highest ever in the 25-year-old league’s history.

The realm of contention is now expanding outside the pitch; their showdown will be in television commercials.

The Turkish manager of FC Seoul, Senol Gunes, 55, recently signed a six-month contract with Onse Telecom, a local provider of overseas calling services. His commercial has been put on the air on ground wave and cable broadcasts. Although the exact terms have not been disclosed, it is known to be one of the biggest deals in the industry.

However, what attracts more interest is that the concept of the advertisement is clearly countering Suwon manager Cha Bum-geun (54), who has been starring in commercials for another overseas telephone service, ‘00700,’ provided by SK Telink. The message of the ad goes, “Manager Gunes suggests: whether it is soccer or overseas phone call services, be ready for full-scale competition.”

Mate Communication, the advertisement agency for Onse Telecom, first sent a proposal to the Seoul-based club midway through April that it was aspiring to shoot a commercial using the manager as the main model. It was shortly after Gunes’ popularity drastically surged, as he had beaten Suwon 4-1 in a cup tournament match on March 21.

Although Onse Telecom’s official explanation is that they had “bought the charismatic and ambitious image of Gunes,” their actual intention is to confront and rid the public of the impression of the inferiority of their brand ‘00365’ to ‘00700’ by making a metaphoric use of the rivalry between the two managers. Another reason to pick Gunes was that he is a foreigner with the relevant personal background for a model for overseas phone call services.

kimsk@donga.com