Turning Korea’s wins into won

Korean businesses are all smiles now that the nation’s football team has beaten Nigeria to advance to the top 16 at the 2010 South Africa World Cup.

According to industry sources, the better Korea performs, the better the sales for companies that have promoted the sporting event or bought ad time during match broadcasts.

As the only official Korean sponsor of the World Cup, Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, owner of the nation’s top two carmakers, is pleased to be feeding off the international football frenzy. Hyundai-Kia provided some 830 protocol vehicles and buses for the games, and Kia has been holding promotional football events for locals. All this, of course, is to prepare for Kia’s launch of its new Sportage R in South Africa later this year.

“The World Cup is an opportunity for us to expand our presence in Africa as well as the world through various on-the-spot marketing and social events,” said a Kia Motors official.

Domestically, the automotive group has been very active in hosting large-scale street cheering events nationwide and has also sponsored and sent a group of selected fans to South Africa.

During the Korea-Japan World Cup in 2002, the automotive group earned promotional benefits worth 6 trillion won ($5.05 billion), and in 2006 that figure hit 10 trillion won. This year, with Korea in the knockout phase, industry experts predict that Hyundai-Kia’s marketing benefit will be in excess of 15 trillion won.

“Considering that the group had spent a total of 500 billion won for event promotion initially, its profit is 30 times more than its investment,” said an industry official.

Other big firms like Samsung Electronics have been World Cup winners as well. The company’s sales of 3-D televisions have seen an average increase of 30 percent every week of the sporting event.

Retailers and fast food chains are also cashing in. On days when Korea has a match, sales of finger foods and beverages such as beer increase as much as fivefold. For example, the City Hall branch of the Family Mart convenience store sold more than 5,200 cans of beer over a period of six hours from midnight yesterday when Korea played Nigeria. Normally, it sells around 200 cans.

Large discount stores including E-Mart, Homeplus and Lotte Mart are also stocking up on fried chicken, as demand has been five times the norm on World Cup match days.

Hyundai I’Park Mall is also promoting a lucky draw in which eight customers would receive gift certificates worth 8 million won each should Korea reach the top eight.

By Lee Eun-joo [angie@joongang.co.kr]