Kim’s golden touch

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Kim’s golden touch

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Girls pose like Kim Yu-na at the Qua brand fashion store in Mugyo-dong, central Seoul, which is selling imitations of the skater’s gold medal made of chocolate. [NEWSIS/YONHAP]


Korean figure skater Kim Yu-na’s performance yesterday was a showstopper — not just for those watching at home, but for Korea’s business world as well.

Stock investors at stopped what they were doing to watch her gold medal-winning skate on television. According to Korea Exchange, trading volume per five minutes was just 1,851 shares from 1:20 to 1:35 p.m., when Kim was competing — half the 3,269 shares traded from 1:15 to 1:20.

The Kim effect was also felt on the Web. Major Korean Internet portals that broadcast Kim’s performance reported it was one of the most-watched events they’d ever streamed. Daum said some 440,000 Koreans simultaneously logged on for the performance, the highest figure ever for a live online sports broadcast.

All these eyeballs have local advertisers licking their chops. Cheil Worldwide has already predicted that Korea’s advertising sector will expand 9.9 percent to become worth some 7.97 trillion won ($6.82 billion) in 2010. But observers say the industry could grow even more quickly if companies spent on advertising for and marketing of young sports stars like Kim.

The figure-skating dynamo’s ability to boost sales is already proven. The jewelry brand that sponsors Kim, J. Estina, saw sales increase up to 25 percent this week. Hoping for a similar boost, Nike’s booths at Hyundai Department Store branches are selling the apparel line Kim wore at the Games for 20 percent off, while Samsung Electronics is offering 200 lucky buyers of its Omnia or Haptic cell phones the chance to meet the medalist.

Hyundai Motor is hoping to extend its sponsorship, which ends at the end of this year, and Korean Air, which has been offering Kim free first-class tickets since April 2009, is also known to be considering extending its sponsorship, which ends next month.


By Kim Hyung-eun [hkim@joongang.co.kr]
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