By Jung Sung-ki
Hanwha Group is stepping up its sports marketing overseas to increase the conglomerate’s brand image and business opportunities.
The move comes as the group is putting strong emphasis on the solar business abroad, especially in Europe, the largest market for the solar power business, according to Hanwha officials.
“We’re pursuing sports marketing here and abroad in accordance with respective business strategies,” Park Jang-woo, deputy senior manager of the group’s public relations team, told The Korea Times. “We expect those marketing efforts will bear fruit slowly but surely.”
Europe accounts for 81 percent of the solar energy market worldwide, or 14.7 of the total 18.2 giga-watts, he said.
Earlier this month, the group signed a one-year sponsorship deal with Italian football club Juventus. Under the deal, Hanwha will be permitted to promote itself as the official Juventus sponsor and run light-emitting diode advertisements at the Series A side’s stadium.
The contract comes on the heels of Hanwha’s construction of a solar power plant in Italy. The facility is a 6 megawatt power plant in a solar power complex in the northern part of the European country.
In August, the group inked sponsorship agreements with Hamburg SV of the German Bundesliga, with which young Korean striker Sohn Hong-min is playing, and with Bolton Wanderers of the English Premier League.
Besides the sponsorship contracts with football clubs, the group is running Hanwha Solar advertisements in the home stadiums of several European teams, such as Spain’s Barcelona and Italy’s AS Roma.
Hanwha has already garnered results from its sponsorship of a women’s golf team earlier this year. Just six months after the team launch, Ryu So-yeon wearing a cap with Hanwha’s logo won the U.S. Women’s Open in July.
“Ryu’s victory paved the way to promote the logo of three intertwined circles globally,” a Hanwha official said. “Chairman Kim Seung-youn is expected to take advantage of the sports marketing strategy further, as he has been active in supporting baseball, boxing and shooting teams.”
In April, Hanwha announced the launch of the venture firm Hanwha Solar Energy. Hanwha Chemical, a key affiliate of the group, plans to build a production facility in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, early next year. The plant is expected to produce 10,000 tons of polysilicon annually after completion in 2013. The group will invest 1 trillion won to build the facility and anticipates it will reap 500 billion won every year in revenue from the polysilicon production business from 2014.