South Korean Conglomerates Latch Onto Films To Raise Brand Awareness   

In recent years, there has been a burgeoning trend of major South Korean companies latching onto film-based branded content to promote themselves.   

Instead of staid product placement, the conglomerates have begun making films that tell stories about their products and employees.

A case in point is steel manufacturer POSCO, which recently produced and released Deadline, an 85-minute feature film across Lotte Cinema theatres nationwide.

Helmed by Kwon Bong-keun and geaturing Gong Seung-yeon, Park Ji-il and Jeong Seok-yong as leads, the film shot in POSCO’s steel mill showcases how its employees saved the company’s premises in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, during the catastrophic Typhoon Hinnamnor, which devastated the city in September 2022.

With a plan to donate profits from the movie to restoration work related to other natural disasters, POSCO will release another documentary film about its 135-day recovery efforts during the typhoon, through Tving, a homegrown streaming platform.

Earlier in June, Hyundai Motor released a 13-minute sci-fi film called Night Fishing, starring Son Suk-ku. The short film was shot by cameras installed on the IONIQ 5, an electric vehicle, without showing the whole shape of the car.

It attracted 46,000 admissions in South Korea and won the Best Editing award at the 28^th Fantasia International Film Festival in Canada  in July, where it was officially selected for the international short film competition.

Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics teamed up with Na Hong-jin, who had directed The Chaser, The Yellow Sea and  The Wailing to create FAITH, a short film shot on the Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone. 

The current trend in South Korea has been somewhat of an anomaly in the general Asian branded content landscape. According to ASN data, Asia’s branded content investment has raked in spends slightly over US$4b+ since Q122 across the Asian sponsorship landscape, with a quarterly average of almost US$347m during this period, such investment has been on the downward spiral since Q423, garnering spends ranging between US$19m+ and US$319.5m, and it is tipped to hit a mere US$84.1m+ in Q424.