Article Categories Recommended Products Buying Leads Show e-Book e-Newsletter

   HOME  >  Hi Seoul Brand Project  
 
¡°Hi Seoul¡± Strengthens Global Branding of Korea's SMEs

¡°Hi Seoul¡± Brand Project and its Achievements

Organized by Seoul City and the Seoul Business Agency(SBA), an organization that specializes in nurturing Seoul-based small enterprises by providing comprehensive supports, the ¡°Hi Seoul¡± Brand Project lends support to enterprises experiencing difficulties in developing their own global brands. Despite possessing advanced technology and product excellence, many of them lack experience in global PR or marketing. Seoul City assists such companies by allowing them to use its ¡°Hi Seoul¡± promotional slogan as a joint brand, plus providing comprehensive PR and marketing services to boost their marketing competence.
SBA selects the candidates after rigid screening of Seoul-based companies with at least two years of business experience, innovative products and advanced technology, and global competitiveness.

Since the ¡°Hi Seoul¡± brand project was launched in 2004 with 11 companies, the number of participating companies has steadily increased from 30 in 2005, to 120 in 2011. Moreover, both sales and brand recognition of the ¡°Hi Seoul¡± brand products have enjoyed remarkable growth. In fact, the sales of the ¡°Hi Seoul¡± brand products grew sharply from 9.5 billion won in 2004, to 659.5 billion won in 2010. Exports in particular skyrocketed to US$114 million in 2010 from US$1.7 million in 2004.


Year 2011 Plans and Goals

The objective of the ¡°Hi Seoul¡± brand project is to develop the ¡°Hi Seoul¡± brand into a ¡°Global No. 1 Regional Brand¡± to
stimulate the growth of excellent small and medium-sized companies on the basis of strong brand power.

Toward this vision, the SBA will focus its efforts on reaching the goal of 800 billion won in sales by these participating SMEs in 2011 and boosting the brand recognition to 36% from 34% in 2009. Moreover, SBA has significantly expanded the number of participating companies and business categories. Currently, 120 outstanding companies that have gone through the strict screening process from six categories such as the IT, fashion & beauty, cultural content, consumer goods, eco-friendly & green items and bio & medical sectors are participating in the project.

To achieve these goals, the SBA will focus on enhancing the ¡°Hi Seoul¡± brand recognition and brand preference in the international market by effectively promoting the brand and building trust among consumers as well as overseas buyers with purchasing power.

Moreover, the SBA will reinforce the PR push for opening overseas markets so that member companies will be able to eagerly utilize the ¡°Hi Seoul¡± brand for their market expansion abroad. Above all, the SBA will provide the companies with opportunities to advance into the Chinese market.

At the same time, domestic and international on-line marketing supports that are finely tuned to the requirements of member companies will be intensified by utilizing eBay, open market and online shopping malls. Moreover, the SBA will keep advancing with the plans for reinforcing the global competitiveness of member companies, including more vigorous design development, nurturing global star enterprises, B2B overseas e-trade aid business and so on.


Support for the Participating Companies

The SBA intends to select companies with great growth potential and ultimately foster them into global star companies with export competence in order to lay the foundation for the ¡°Hi Seoul¡± brand to raise its profile as a global brand by helping them to open overseas markets more actively in cooperation with the trade support project by the SBA.

Once the companies are selected, the SBA supports them by allowing them to sell their products with the ¡°Hi Seoul¡± brand logo displayed on them and offering various marketing support at home and abroad.
In a part, the SBA offers support for attendance of small-sized trade fairs that can meet the needs of participants. In 2010, a total number of 193 companies were given such aid and reaped US$ 900 million worth of export contract consultation.
Furthermore, the SBA assists member companies in their individual registration on world-renowned B2B Internet sites, thus helping them effectively publicize their products.

The SBA has also provided support to companies that want to expand their presence in the domestic market by opening exclusive space for ¡°Hi Seoul¡± brand products at the nation¡¯s leading online shopping mall, G-market as well as local TV home shopping broadcasting. In 2010, a total number of 44 companies benefited from such support, reaping 3.5 billion won in sales.

The SBA also strengthens the PR pitch via local and international mass media at home and abroad.
First, the SBA is consistently promoting the Hi Seoul brand and the products by the participating companies through various mass media including newspapers, magazines, and cable TV, as well as advertising on the subway and in subway stations. Through these PR endeavors, 180 companies were exposed to various mass media at home and abroad.
Moreover, the Hi Seoul Brand Plaza, the Hi Seoul showroom on the first floor of the Seoul Trade Exhibition and Convention Center (SETEC), has been serving as a venue for consumers and buyers to participate in various events and experience a variety of ¡°Hi Seoul¡± brand products.


SBA Activities and Achievements

Funded by Seoul City, the SBA was founded in March 1998 with an aim of providing comprehensive support for Seoul City¡¯s project for industry and the economy and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in accordance with the government¡¯s ¡°law on balanced regional development and the cultivation of small and medium-sized local companies.¡±

As a reliable partner of SMEs, the SBA offers comprehensive services for SMEs or venture startup companies in Seoul and provides various kinds of support for their cultivation, marketing and exhibitions at home and abroad, foreign trade, and investment attraction through various infrastructures, including the Seoul Fashion Center, Seoul Animation Center, Seoul Hightech Venture Center, DMC R&D Center, SETEC, Seoul Trade Hall Peking, International Cooperation and Marketing Support Headquarters, Design Cluster.

Seoul City named six new growth-engine industries or creative industries in tourism, fashion and design, digital content, banking and logistics services, R&D, exhibitions and conventions, as Seoul City¡¯s representative strategic industries. In keeping with this, the SBA plans to concentrate its support on marketing at home and abroad for each industrial sector.

As a self-contained professional organization, it will create an environment in which SMEs can expand their business and enhance their global competitiveness through strategic global marketing, rather than providing random support and fostering dependency.



* More Information

Tel: (82-2)2222-3775
homepage: http://hiseoulbrand.sba.kr

Real-time Video Encoding Equipment

PIXTREE has developed and supplied monitoring devices and additional data service devices for mobile TV broadcasting, and developed and commercialized new mobile multimedia services such as visual radio services, interactive mobile services and additional data services, and further commercializing terrestrial DMB transmission devices for the first time in the world.

LED Controller

Zephyr Logic, a premier ESD solution provider in the nation, is focusing its efforts on providing environmentally friendly applications such as LEDs, low-power standby, etc.

All-in-one integrated POS System

POSBANK, a promising company of POS hardware and software, has newly unveiled itsall-in-one integrated POS system dubbed ¡°miniO¡± that significantly saves counter space with its feature of non-intrusiveness, meeting the desirable business needs in terms of look, feel and power.

Handheld Radio System

UNIMO Technology, a leading domestic company of radio communication systems over the past 40 years based upon the accumulated technologies, professionally supplies an extensive range of radio communication systems, including analog two-way radios and digital radios (TETRA), commanding more than a 50% share of the nation¡¯s radio communication system market.

Automatic Certificate Issuing Machines

Anyteksys has since its foundation in 1987 been developing its KIOSK type endorsement system that improves the efficiency of issuing civil affairs certificates at public offices.

Video Event Data Recorder

PLK Technologies has proudly presented a video event data recorder titled ¡°RoadScan FX¡±, which is equipped with continuous recording function, can record videos without impact or control and check the level of car battery and turn off automatically for preventing battery discharge.

New Type of Presentation Solution

As a professional provider & manufacturer of highest-quality educational equipment, B&S MEDIA currently provides the latest style presentation solution dubbed ¡°e-STATION¡± featuring unique, intelligent, integrated and user-friendly for every size and type of hall.

Dimmer

Power Analog and Digital has revealed LEDSBOND-2000 version intelligent dimmer adopting the pulsating wave generation technology and stable power control technology, respectively.

CCTV Camera Transmitter & Receiver

E-pia, a promising global IT company equipped with selfdeveloped highest-quality wireless ISM Band RF technology, has proudly released its CCTV Camera Transmitter & Receiver dubbed ¡°SWVs (Smart Wireless Vision)¡±- comprising a SWV-V (video), SWV-VA (video / audio), SWV-VAD (video / audio / pan.tilt), employing the latest binary CDMA technology.

Ultra Stylish Tablet

Avantis has recently unveiled an ultra-stylish tablet titled ¡°Alessitab,¡± which is designed by Stefano Giovannoni, based upon Google's Android 2.3, and has a touchable 10.1" wide and high resolution LCD, including built-in WiFi 802.11b/g, front-facing camera and microphone. The stylish tablet has auto-rotation with gravitational sensor, supporting USB port and SD card slot as well.

Prev   1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8  9  10   Next
 
   Article Categories
Special Report

Cover Story

Industry In-Depth

Pioneers

World-OKTA

Company to Watch

Focus

Expo Preview I

Expo Preview II

Export Leader

The Excellent Company Brand of Seoul

KIMES 2011

KOTRA Seal of Excellence

World-Class Products of Korea

EXCO

COEX

KINTEX

BEXCO

CECO

KIMDAEJUNG CONVEN..

GSBC

Korea¡¯s Globally Competitive Exhibitions

Industry Trends

Korea¡¯s Major Exhibitions in 2011

KEITI

Special Features

Hi Seoul Brand Project

Products Recommended by KICOX

KEPCO KDN

KOAMI

Best Products from Chungbuk, Korea

2011 G-FAIR KOREA

BEPA (Busan Ecinimic Promotion Agency)

The Excellent Company in Suwon, The Republic of Korea

Industry Trends

Spotlight

FTA Feature

The Best Companies of Seongdong-gu, Seoul

Exhibition Preview

Trade News

Tourist Attractions

Introduciton to BJFEZ

Introduction to KITA

Expo Preview

New Excellent Product

Best Products from Jeollanam-do, Korea

G-FAIR KOREA

The Best Trader of The Month

Introduction to Major FEZs in South Korea

Gangdong-gu Office

exco

SETEC

Introduction to GFEZ

2013 Automotive Week

Special report¥±

Introduction to KOTRA

Seoul Motor Show 2013

New & Hot

Maekyung Buyersguide Corp.'s Korea Buyers Guide, an overseas publicity / marketing magazine for Korean merchandise,
has proudly contributed to export expansion of South Korea for more than 30 years since January 1974.
About Us     |     Subscription     |     Agent Wanted     |     Free Copy Event     |     Contact Us
Copyright(c) 2015 Maekyung BuyersGuide Corp. All right reserved.