Retail firms utilize Olympic medalists to improve corporate image

Table tennis player Shin Yu-bin, center, poses after donating part of her model fee, worth 100 million won ($75,000), to elementary school table tennis players, in Seoul, Friday. Earlier, she signed a sponsorship contract with Binggrae, a food and beverage company. Courtesy of Binggrae

Retail companies are taking advantage of Olympic medalists either by signing sponsorship deals or offering special incentives to those who brought home medals from the Paris Olympics.

Table tennis player Shin Yu-bin, who won two bronze medals at the Summer Games, has inarguably drawn the most public attention after she was spotted eating bananas and peaches during her matches.

Binggrae, a food and beverage firm, picked her as the model for its flagship banana-flavored milk. The company also gained a better corporate image after Shin decided to donate part of her model fee to a table tennis association for elementary school players.

GS25, a convenience store chain, also collaborated with Shin on launching a special rice ball, featuring her smiling image on the packaging.

Oriental Brewery also joined forces with national team fencer Oh Sang-uk to maximize the marketing effect of the firm's alcohol brand, Cass. Oh won two gold medals at the Olympics.

OB created a television commercial featuring Oh for its Cass Light zero-sugar beer.

"We will keep raising awareness of beer with low calories by partnering with Oh," an official from the company said.

Other major retail firms are also rushing to enhance their corporate image by giving presents to family members of Olympic medalists. Crown Confectionery, famous for its diverse cookie products, offered almost 630 packs of the firm's popular Sweet and Sour chewy candies to a restaurant run by the parents of sharpshooter Oh Ye-jin, who clinched gold in the women's 10-meter air pistol.

Maeil Dairies offered a special incentive to taekwondo athlete Park Tae-joon and his family for Park having brought a gold medal home for the first time in 16 years in his discipline. Park's father works at an affiliate of the company.