Daewoo Corp, one of Korea's largest business groups (see separate box), is also one of the first Korean companies to run regular corporate advertising campaigns internationally. The name 'Daewoo' means 'great universe,' and so it is hardly surprising that the firm has consistently sought to bring itself to the attention of businessmen and opinion leaders worldwide.

International advertising began in 1977, with all the work done in-house by Daewoo in Seoul. Then, in 1982, Daewoo became one of the first Korean companies to use a foreign advertising agency when, in November 1982, it appointed JWT in the USA to handle its US advertising. The appointment of JWT marked a change from tactical or ad-hoc advertising in special supplements about Korea to a more strategic approach. Campaigns created by JWT have since been used on worldwide scale.

An image and awareness survey in the US in 1983 showed that only 2-3% of Daewoo's target of top business management and opinion leaders even knew the company's name. That same year, Daewoo ranked 62nd in Fortune magazine's 'International 5OO' ranking (In 1989, it ranked 3Oth). Although Daewoo was already doing a lot of business in the USA, there were no brand name products on sale. All Daewoo's manufactured products in those days were produced on an OEM basis and sold under the names of other companies. For instance, Daewoo's Le Mans automobile bears the General Motors badge in the USA and Europe.

"Results from this first survey were not very good, " said Mr. Ki-Hwan Moon, assistant manager of Daewoo's International Corporate Communications Division. " And so the objective set for JWT's first campaign was to establish awareness and knowledge of Daewoo among top management in business and opinion leaders."

The first USA campaign used Business Week, Fortune, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal, with six consecutive right hand page ads appearing in the magazines.

In 1983 different campaigns ran in the USA and elsewhere. The USA accounts for about 4O% of Daewoo's exports and accordingly has slightly different communication needs than the rest of the world. Time Europe, The Economist, and Financial Times were added to the schedule for Europe for this campaign.

Awareness of Daewoo among its top management target audience has climbed steadily. Follow-ups to the original 1983 research in the USA showed in 1985 awareness was almost 4O%. By 1989 it was 53%.

The growth in awareness was created entirely by advertising. It was not until 1988 Daewoo began, for the first time to market, some products under its own name in the USA. Initially the brand name appeared on microwave ovens and a few other domestic appliances in the USA. The company plans to steadily introduce more branded products, both in the USA and Europe.

Daewoo's media choice has been very consistent since it started advertising (See Media List Box). The original core list of US and European publications has been steadily built up. This year a number of local and regional media are being used to extend coverage.

"For the Middle East and Africa we are using Newsweek's Middle East and African editions, explained Mr. Moon. "We know there are many big local media, but we can't use all of them, and its very difficult to achieve suitable reach and frequency levels in the region within our budget via such media. This is why have chosen to go with Newsweek. We feel it is read by our target audience. To reinforce this we are also advertising in Arabic in Al Hawadess. In South America, for similar kinds of reasons, we are using Vision and Time."

Korea is rapidly developing business ties with a changing Eastern Bloc. This year, media in China and Eastern Europe (USSR, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia) are taking their place in Daewoo's campaign. For China two joint venture media are used, International Business Management (a McGraw Hill jv) and Jinge Jishijie (a South Magazine jv) " We use joint venture media in China because they have a good reputation for quality editorial and reliable information among their readers," said Mr. Moon.

Daewoo's budget is allocated roughly in line with sales for most regions. However, in the USA, the budget is set based on media objectives which, this year, are to reach over 5O% of the target audience with a 3-plus frequency in each quarter. This means that 4O-5O% of the spend each year is in the USA.

From the beginning, Daewoo's corporate advertising has tried to explain the very broad scope of its activities. Eye catching visual treatments with short copy have found simple but effective ways to tell Daewoo's complex story. For instance, in the "Who Daewoo" campaign, letters of the alphabet are used to illustrate different Daewoo products, using illustrations in the style of a child's picture book.

This year, advertising in the USA directly involves a number of companies in the Daewoo Group who are planning to market in the USA. These are Daewoo Electronics, Daewoo Telecom, Daewoo Heavy Industries, and Daewoo Securities. The target audience has also been extended from top to middle management. As more Daewoo-branded products become available, so too will the advertising target be extended to include the consumer.

To meet this new need, the long running "Who ? Daewoo" campaign (see picture) which has run for the past few years has now been dropped in the USA, although it continues internationally. The new US campaign, called "The Universal Language " (see illustration) directly features the group companies who are developing their own markets in the USA.

As Daewoo-branded products are gradually introduced to the world's major markets, consumer advertising will steadily become part of Daewoo's advertising mix. Daewoo budgets will inevitably become more valuable. In spending them, attention will always be given to the company image as well as to the product story. "Our corporate image is a valuable asset," says Mr. Moon, " it will always be important for us to try and present a consistent face to the world through our advertising. While our needs and strategies may change, we expect that corporate advertising will continue to play an important role in our evolution."

How Daewoo spends its budget

Group Corporate Advertising, - excluding advertising by individual Daewoo companies.
USA and International, Approximately US$ 8 million (split USA 4O-5O%; International 6O-5O%)

REGIONAL ALLOCATION (% by region, outside the USA)Asia Europe M.East/ S.America China

Africa

35 3O 2O 1O 5

199O MEDIA CHOICE

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USA Europe

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Business Week Financial Times

Forbes Wall Street Journal

Fortune Economist

Wall Street Journal Time

International Herald Tribune

Asia: Middle East / Africa

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Asian Wall Street Journal Newsweek

Far East Economic Review Al Hawadess

Newsweek

Asia Week

....plus Japan: USSR / E.Europe

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Nikkei Business Economics & Life

(previously called The

Economic Gazette)

South America: China

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Vision International Business

Time & Management

Jing-Ji Shijie

Daewoo Profile

Since its foundation in 1967 as a small textile trading company, Daewoo has grown into one of Korea's largest business groups. Total sales in 1989 were US$ 2O Billion, including exports of about US$ 4.8 Billion. Last year, Daewoo ranked 3Oth in Fortune magazine's "International 5OO" listing of the largest industrial corporations outside the USA.

There are 25 companies in the Daewoo Group involved in a wide range of manufacturing and service industries, including trading, construction, ship building, industrial machinery, consumer electronics, telecommunications, automobiles, hotels, finance and securities.

Daewoo has over 75 offices worldwide. It has a joint ventures with General Motors, General Electric, ITT, and Sikorsky. There are also licensing and manufacturing agreements with British Aerospace, Northern Telecom, Boeing, and Caterpillar.