Korea’s electronics makers are strengthening their brand strategies, encouraged by Samsung Electronics whose global brand value is estimated at $10.8 billion.
Local home appliance manufacturers are focusing on the fact that among all Korean companies only Samsung joined the list of the world’s top-100 brands.
Over the past decades, major electronics makers have made great efforts to boost their global standing. Though progress has been made across the board, the level is not enough compared with what Samsung has so far achieved, industry sources said.
The renewed focus on the value of powerful brands comes at a time when the Korean economy has entered its first recession in five years amid sluggish sales of big-ticket electronics items despite the government’s move to encourage consumer spending.
With the outlook for the domestic market murky, it is only natural that electronics makers eye overseas markets by accelerating moves to beef up their brand image among foreign consumers.
Just a decade ago, even Samsung did not wield noticeable brand power in the U.S. electronics market, one of the key export battlegrounds.
But its continued investment and marketing campaigns began to affect the way American consumers perceived Samsung products, which in turn boosted the standing of its flagship electronics models at major distribution outlets.
Samsung, which maintains a tight grip on the domestic market, has diversified its brands. Hauzen, for instance, is a lineup of upscale home appliance products, the Zipel label is applied to high-end refrigerators and PAVV is one of the major flat-screen television brands in Korea.
But Samsung does not stick to its diverse brands when it comes to exports. Samsung officials said the company’s name itself is a key corporate brand for foreign consumers and, therefore, almost all the products for exports bear “Samsung” as the brand.
The only exception is a mobile phone exported to the Chinese market. Korea has more than 33 million mobile phone users, with three carriers offering cdma2000 1x services. Samsung, the world’s third-largest mobile phone maker, has built so strong a brand out of its “Anycall” handset models that its China-bound handsets carry the Anycall brand.
LG Electronics, a rival to Samsung, wields a stronger brand power in Southeast Asia. As a result, it continues to utilize its LG corporate brand for home appliance products to be shipped to the region.
According to a survey conducted overseas in February, LG turned out to have the top brand power in the Asia/Pacific region in 2002.
LG, meanwhile, is promoting its drum-type washing machines in the North American market by strengthening its sub-brand, “TROMM.”
“Putting TROMM up front means the company is confident about its products and their quality,” an LG Electronics official said.
LG, which took over U.S.-based Zenith Electronics Corp. in 1999, is using its own LG brand for upscale display products such as plasma display panel TVs, LCD projection TVs and home theater products.
Midrange display products continue to bear the Zenith brand in the U.S. market, encouraging consumers to consider the LG brand as high-end.
>From The Korean Herald