'Connect emotionally with customers'

Interbrand Global CEO Jez Frampton

Global brand consultant tells Korean firms to be unconventional

By Kim Bo-eun

It’s all about marketing. That’s the message Interbrand, a global brand-consulting firm, is encouraging Korean firms to embrace.

Most businesses focus on the bottom line, and stick to logical plans and strategies, but Interbrand says businesses need to get in touch with their emotional side.

“Companies have a great temptation to be rational about everything,” said Interbrand Global CEO Jez Frampton. “But it will be a good opportunity for Korean companies to learn to trust their emotional side.”

Apple is a great example, according to Frampton. He said Apple doesn’t have the best quality products, but the company knows how to sell them.

“If you strip away the reality, they aren’t the best phones or mp3 players, but the company has found a way to connect emotionally to consumers,” he said in an interview with The Korea Times.

Apple reached out to its consumers through the incredible life story of its late CEO Steve Jobs. Through such an approach, it was able to secure a huge, loyal fan base around the world.

Frampton said Apple’s rivals are starting to catch on. Among them, Samsung is going in the right direction, the CEO said. “Samsung is taking the right approach in terms of communication, culture and environment.”

In the past Samsung focused on the quality of the products based on definition, speed or performance. Now, the company has shifted its focus to appeal to consumers through design and emotion. The switch seems to be working as the company is recording success with its Galaxy smartphone series.

Samsung was one of three Korean brands that made it on Interbrand’s top 100 brands in the world in 2012. It was the highest ranking at ninth, followed by Hyundai Motor at 53rd and Kia Motors at 87th.

Interbrand is a U.S. brand consulting firm, specializing in strategy, brand valuation, corporate design, digital brand management, packaging design and naming. It’s one of the world’s largest brand consulting firms, with 40 offices in 27 countries.

“In a nutshell, our services are helping companies understand what they are about and bringing it to life in a way which is compelling,” said the CEO.

Best Korea Brands

Along with its annual Best Global Brands list, Interbrand produces specific tables for a number of markets around the world, ranking brands in various markets. This year, for the first time, it launched “Best Korea Brands,” which lists the top 30 brands here.

“Given what’s happening in Korea, and the strength of brands like Samsung, Hyundai and Kia, and their presence on the global league table, we felt the time was right to produce a table for Korea,” said the CEO.

The brands were announced by Interbrand Korea at a press conference held on Feb. 21.

Samsung Electronics topped the list, with an estimated brand value of 37.2 trillion won, based on its rolling success with its smartphones. Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors followed it, with brand values of 8.45 trillion won and 4.62 trillion won, respectively.

Sister companies and affiliates also fared well in terms of brand strength. Among them were Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance, Samsung Card, Samsung C&T, as well as Hyundai Mobis, Hyundai Card, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, Hyundai Heavy Industries and Hyundai Department Store.

Despite the global financial crisis, nine financial firms made it on the list. KB Kookmin Bank came 6th with a brand value of 2.66 trillion won, followed by Samsung Life Insurance and Shinhan Card, Shinhan Bank and Hana Bank, which were placed 7th, 9th, 11th and 13th, respectively.

Business-to-business firms were also ranked as having high brand value, including POSCO (5th), Hyundai Heavy Industries (14th), LG Chemical (15th), Hyundai Mobis (17th), Samsung C&T (22nd), Hyundai Engineering & Construction (24th), SK Innovation (25th) and Hankook Tire (26th).

The combined brand value of the top 30 Korean companies stood at 94.36 trillion won.

Frampton spoke highly of domestic corporations.

“Korean companies have a tremendous spirit of innovation, and it is clear that there is a strong commitment at the CEO level to make brands important,” he said.

The CEO noted that NHN’s search engine, micro-blogging, games, charity work and services for children should serve as an example for other Korean businesses. SK Telecom and KT are steadily expanding the range of mobile communication companies’ business, he added.

Gangnam Style

Framptom said “Gangnam Style,” the worldwide hit by Korean singer Psy, will also boost interest in local companies.

“Gangnam Style has opened the door to Korean culture. The most important thing is that it shows that there is something about Korean culture that we’re prepared to connect to,” he said.

Korean companies shouldn’t be afraid to try and connect with consumers through their hearts as well as their minds and wallets, the CEO added.

Frampton said Korean pop songs on YouTube are raising awareness of Korea.

“I haven’t seen any numbers or figures, but I’ve been asked “What is Gangnam? What is Gangnam all about?” The problem with country branding is that a lot of them end up looking like picture postcards, which don’t tell you anything. But ‘Gangnam Style’ has had people getting a flavor of the Korean attitude. I expect that most people will look at the video and think, these people can have fun.”

Interbrand also does work for country brands, which Frampton said is one of the most difficult campaigns to run because there are so many interest groups involved.

However, Frampton said it’s crucial for a country to promote its national image. First, the country must understand its identity and how it fits into the global community.

“It’s important for people to understand what you are about, what you stand for, what you believe socially and culturally, because that’s increasingly what people want to do business with,” he said.