[Sponsored Report] Survey results show increase in satisfaction

The National Brand Competitiveness Index (NBCI) is a survey of 48 industries and 176 brands and was conducted this year by the Korea Productivity Center and the JoongAng Ilbo, with support from the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

The overall score was 66.9 points, a 1.3 point or 2 percent increase from 2010. Of the 48 industries, 33 showed a rise in their NBCI score. And looking at specific product lines like kimchi refrigerators, two-door refrigerators, milk and air conditioners recorded high scores in brand competitiveness.

The kimchi refrigerator industry has grown as the products have become essential. With active marketing the industry was ranked top in NBCI survey.

The two-door refrigerator industry received high marks for development and luxury design while the milk industry is introducing new products that are aimed at toddlers, children and adults and it is expected that the various marketing techniques of these products will receive good marks.

Compared with the service sector average, department stores, home study materials, large markets and mobile telecommunication service showed promise too.

The reason why brand competitiveness has increased so much is due to the economic situation around the world, which is finally showing signs of recovery. Because of this recovery companies are introducing new products and new technologies to catch new demands.

There are two parts to the 2011 NBCI survey result. First is brand competitiveness through new technologies. In the case of the digital TV industry, which showed a rise of 4.7 percent compared to last year, recent hot issues like smart TVs and 3-D TVs have seen new products and new technology emerge as a result of the company’s efforts in marketing. Brand competitiveness rose as a result.

Second is the actual competitiveness among the brands which has led to a rise in brand competitiveness overall. Online book stores showed a 6.6 percent rise compared to 2010 as competition has become more intense.

Some industries have not fared so well.

According to the NBCI survey, the kimchi refrigerator, two-door refrigerator and large-medium size vehicle industries show high brand competitiveness.

The bidet and water purifier industries, where rental service takes up a large portion of the industry, showed low brand competitiveness due to weak competition and a marketing structure that showed little change.

In the service sector the financial industry also showed low brand competition with marketing methods that were not much different from the previous year and as efforts to introduce new and differentiated products slowed down.

This kind of trend was not found in the credit card industry where BC Card has been the top brand for seven years in a row.

However in 2010 Shinhan Card and Hyundai Card used more than 10 billion won in media advertising and tried to actively improve its brand acknowledgement and image while BC Card only used 3 billion won to try and maintain its position.

Shinhan Card and Hyundai Card have very aggressively conducted cultural marketing to appeal to consumers and positively succeeded in changing its brand acknowledgement and brand image.

Looking at these results altogether, it seems to show that when a company showed greater effort in emphasizing new technology, new concept products or services through marketing to try and become a leading brand, the fierce competition between the brands within the industry created an environment that allowed maximization of competition.

This proved that in environments where companies showed off their marketing ability to its fullest brand competition can be greatly increased.

By Lee Ji-hyun [concordia@joongang.co.kr]