Korean TV dramas trigger Asian urge to splurge
Print Edition
THE export success of South Korea’s TV dramas has spawned a hard-selling world of branded entertainment that uses product placement to push everything from smartphones to lipsticks.
The so-called Hallyu (Korean Wave) of TV shows and pop music has long conquered most of Asia and, in recent years, found new, devoted fans in the Middle East, Latin America and North Africa.
The vast audiences opened stealth marketing opportunities that have become distinctly less stealthy as competition has intensified.
South Korean firms now spend millions of dollars ensuring lovers in popular soap operas confess their feelings via Samsung smartphones, kiss in Hyundai cars and move into a house with a giant LG TV.
The power of the most popular dramas to launch new trends and boost existing ones was displayed by the recent production “My Love from the Star” — an unlikely love story between a top female movie star and a 400-year-old alien disguised as a human.
The SBS show was a huge hit, especially in China where it triggered a craze for Korean-style fried chicken and beer, the favored comfort food of the show’s heroine — played by Gianna Jun.
The main characters talked and sent texts on Samsung’s Galaxy Note smartphones, or chatted via the Line mobile app made by Naver, South Korea’s top Internet portal.
Jun’s character used lotions and lipsticks made by Amorepacific, South Korea’s largest cosmetics firm. Supporting characters had an insatiable taste for mini-desserts made by CJ — the country’s top food company.
The exposure has paid off.
Amorepacific said sales of the skincare products and lipsticks used by Jun surged 75 percent and 400 percent, respectively, largely thanks to booming sales in China.
“In the past, PPL (product placement) on South Korean TV shows boosted domestic sales only,” the firm said. “But we’ve recently seen it having an immediate and widespread impact in Asia, especially in China.”
More than 90 percent of PPL deals on South Korean soap operas involve domestic firms, but foreign companies are also being attracted by the lure of improved sales in a key regional market.
In “My Love From the Star,” a pair of US$625 Jimmy Choo shoes worn by Jun sold out in stores across Asia within days.
Even more dramatically, it only took a rumor — the brand name never appeared — that the lipstick Jun used in one episode was from Yves St Laurent to cause a similar run on that product. Neither Jimmy Choo nor YSL had even struck a deal to have their products placed in the show. Mercedes Benz did, and the German carmaker saw sales of its models spike.
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