I have a football that I found at Homeplus last year. I toss the ball around and ask the kids how their vacation was.
Then I mention that the U.S.A. had an important holiday last week the way that Korea did with the Korean new year. Superbowl Sunday.
I tell the kids that thirty seconds of air time cost companies three million dollars or 35억. Then I show the ads.
I like watching T.V. in Korea because there aren't many commercials. When you don't watch commercials and then suddenly start watching them you realize how effective they are. I don't often drink sodas anymore.
I stopped drinking sodas after I started drinking beer. I get my caffeine from coffee, so I just skip out on the empty calories. But damnit all after seeing a few coke commercials, I really wanted some coke.
The same thing happened while watching the new Conan O'brien show on the internet. They used to play this diet coke commercial over and over again. I don't even like diet coke, but I felt like having some.
So anyway, I hope I did my patriotic duty for helping the American economy by exposing impressionable young minds to advanced marketing techniques. I showed some Doritos commercials that were pretty funny. I haven't seen real Doritos in Korea until just a few months ago. However, I did my part in explaining what Doritos were to the kids, and where they could get them. (Korea has the little "나쵸" snacks, and tucked under a bunch of other stuff at Home Plus are real cheese Cheetoes and real cheese Doritos for 4 thousand something won a bag.)
All and all, though, it was me who was suckered the most by the ads. This year they made me see the genius of writing behind advertising. These guys have thirty seconds to convey a message. They have thirty seconds to get an emotional response, and they do it very well. I got addicted to watching this one ad for Chrysler with Eminem. I don't want to buy a Chrysler, but I'm kind of interested in their cars now. More than anything, this commercial made me want to got to Detroit.
That's why I think that the Korea tourism people should get a few Don Drapers to help them out with their commercials. I mean watch this sparkling Korea commercial with Rain. He says, "Korea is Sparkling...................Just like Me."
Also says that Korea is inspiring, exciting, and there is a lot of fast cutting footage of kimchi and and people drumming. The feeling I got at the end of this commercial was hmm, Korea sparkles like that guy. Korea sparkles like a man who doesn't feel strange about saying that he himself sparkles. That's interesting.
But then watch this Chrysler commercial. It has a lot of of the same elements as the Korea sparkling commercial. It has pictures of s city scape. It has a famous person (Emienem) and it has people acting musically (a gospel choir) But for some reason this thing hits emotional nerves and makes you want to visit Detroit. Detroit of all places. Think of Seoul and Busan for a second. They are very nice and new cities. As you could see from the Korea sparkling video they have a bullet train with old men using cell phones, while Detroit has the old Michigan Central Depot, the gigantic twelve story abandoned train station. Yet after watching this Chrysler commercial I just want to say Fuck Yeah Detroit!
So to the Korea tourism board, give the Wieden+Kennedy ad agency a call. Hell it just makes sense. Hyundai and Kia don't turn to the Korea tourism board when they make commercials and they have expanded their market share in America. Probably thanks to stuff like this:
I imagine a Hyundai ad from the Korea tourism board might be a bit like this:
Scene 1 a voice over says the word "modern," pronouncing the "o" as a long o. And there is a shot of a guy looking at a micro chip(Hyundai means modern in Korean, but of course nobody is going to explain that.)
Scene 2. you can hear the wonder girls singing "Tell Me, and the scene is a time elapsed shot of Dongdae Moon with cars driving around it.
Scene 3. Standard car commercial stuff with a car driving on a mountain or something.
Scene 4. Somebody being surprised about Kimchi.
Scene 5. A person in their car talking on the phone, the person says "Tell Me," in time with the wondergirls. (For no reason) (Yes the person will be in their car talking on a cell phone, despite all car companies these days making cars with hands free systems. )
Scene 6. Some more car footage. The voice over says that there is ten years of after service.
Scene 7. Finally you can see a Korean flag and slogan is "Hyundai Tell Me Modern." That's the slogan, not because anybody thought deeply about it, it's just a mash up of what was in the commercial.
Actually, I think I should make that commercial myself and post it on youtube for Hyundai's North American marketing department.
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