Day 3, Seoul: Coca Cola, Publicis, and Korean BBQ (finally!)

8/30/11
So, yesterday was our last full day in Seoul. We visited Coca Cola (AMAZING!) and Publicis Modem.

Coca Cola was great. The speaker was delightful and interesting to listen to. She talked all about their marketing approach, using their Happiness Factory campaign and the Wavin' Flag to bring their approach to life for us. Their campaigns break down into three parts:

1. Brand Content - they create content in order to communicate to their consumers.
• This seems pretty basic, but creating great content can sometimes be the most difficult part.
2. Brand Experience - they create opportunites for their consumers to experience the brand, and bring that content to life.
• The example she used was Coca Cola's viewing venues during the World Cup in Africa. They basically set up large viewing screens in off-site venues for people to gather and watch the world cup games. I tried to find an image of one of their venues, but failed.
• Fun Fact: I didn't know this. The "Wavin' Flag" song by K'NAAN which was basically the song of this world cup, played before every game coverage (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTJSt4wP2ME), was actually Coca Cola's promotional anthem (I thought it was FIFA's). Coca Cola used this anthem to help cultivate a purposeful storey. It enabled them to connect with consumers in over 200 countries with one idea. The song went to #1 on the charts in 17 different cultures.
3. Brand Conversation - The content and the experience should inspire conversation among their consumers
• The example she used to bring this point to life was that of the "Friendship Machine". Watch this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj3QLLTFDX8 
• Another example was the "Happiness Truck" where people pushed a button and received a free gift. Watch this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVap-ZxSDeE. There was actually a person in the truck, watching people's reactions and choosing the right gifts for each individual. 

Ultimately, everything comes down to creating a story for people to connect with, remember, learn from, and share. They also gave us some free swag: a Coca Cola branded USB! Below are some pics from the visit.

At Publicis, we learned more about the media landscape in Korea, the differences between the landscape in the US, and media planning. Not as crazy exciting as Coca Cola, but the main speaker was a University of Michigan grad and he made this somewhat dry subject interesting and fun to listen to. Any time I had a question, he'd call on me by saying, "Yes, University of Michigan." The most interesting thing about this conversation was hearing how their media is set up, and the transition that they've gone through (and are still going through) since their dictatorship ended here in South Korea.

The second speaker from Publicis was the account manager for the LG account. He ran down the presentation they gave to LG in a bid for their global website strategy. Interesting learning from this part of the presentation:

• In a previous post, I mentioned that Cheil Communications was a subsidary of Samsung (basically, Samsung owns the agency Cheil). Apparently, this is standard in South Korea. Most of the large companies in Seoul own an ad agency. Publicis is pretty much unique in that they are independent and have been able to survive in South Korea.
• This independence is an advantage for Publicis in some aspects, but can be a hindrance. While their pitch for the LG global website strategy was rated well above than their competition, they didn't win the bid. LG decided to give the business to the agency that is their owned subsidary.

We ended our company visit about an hour early, which we were all excited about since it was our last night in Seoul. After a quick refresh back at the hotel, Misia, Mel, Lindsey, Katie, Lauren and I headed out to see the Seoul Tower and find a kick-ass Korean BBQ place to eat at.

We once again, navigated the subway system toward the tower. The Seoul Tower is a communication and observation tower located on Namsan Mountain. Reaching about 236.7 m (777 ft) in height, it provided some great views of the city.

One of the big attractions, apart from the views, were the Love N Letter, Love Magnet Wall, and Love Tree. Love is apparently a big thing at this tower. To my parents and Joe, I sent you a letter from the Love N Letter post office at the top of the tower.

Below are a few pictures from the Love Tree, which is actually a viewing deck where couples attach locks to the railing to signify everlasting love. While you and your partner are supposed to put the lock on the tree together, since Misia couln't mail a letter to James she purchased a lock to put on the tree for them.

After getting back down the mountain from the tower (via cable car), Misia, Mel, Lauren and myself went in search for a Korean BBQ restaurant (Katie and Lindsey headed back to the hotel). Korean BBQ is the one thing you don't want to miss out on here. I had failed in my attempts to do Korean BBQ the previous nights, and I was not going to leave this city without eating it. We found one and I was happy :-)

It was a long day and we didn't get back to our hotel until about midnight. I attempted to hop online quickly before bed, but our hotel WiFi was being crappy. I'm currently at the airport waiting for my flight to Shanghai. I'm not sure what the situation will be there with regards to WiFi and firewalls. As you all may know, China has very strict internet regulation, and certain things are not allowed (such as Facebook). I installed a VPN network on my computer through Northwestern University to try and bypass any firewalls, but I won't know if it works until I get there.  If I don't update this for the next 7 days, do not panic. I just may not be able to access this blog page while in Shanghai.

<3E