Conference on Korea National Brand

I was lucky to visit the conference held by Korea National Brand held in Grand Hilton Hotel in Seoul. It was quite hard to get there, because my university is rather far from that palce, but it was definitely worth that.
The first performer was CEO of Burson-Marsteller Korea, Margaret Key, who was born in the United States, and whose mother is Korean, and she herself considers herself as Korean. She showed how Korea has developed compared to several decades ago period, and that now Korea occupies a very good and strong position in the world market. Margaret Key compared brand slogans that are used to express fundamental elements of different countries, and herself has given a definition of brand as feeling, aspiration, and sentiment. Also, she presented the words of Il SaKong, WSJ: "The G20 members, especially the G7, know we'll be more than willing to lead. Leadership doesn,t mean working alone. It means getting harmony, cooperation and support". Among the conclusions made were the following: "Brand Korea shouldn't be a slogan, should be a story and should resonate both the public and private sector; should be patient, bold, and focused; should be consistent, appealing and powerful. Also it should be based on commitment and a democratic voice of ownerships" and many others.
The next presenter was Dr. Su-Seok Lee, of Institute for National Security Strategy (Korean Association of North Korean Studies). He stated that if the North Korea brings instability on South Korea, it will negatively affect Korean Brand. The following presenters were Professor Seung-Mok Yang from Seoul National University (President of Korean Society for Journalism and Communication Studies), Professor Sang-Pil Han from Hanyang University (President of Korea Advertising Society), Prof 차윤호 (러시아 변호사-경남대학교), Andrew Salmon )Seoul-based journalist for the Washington Times), Tetsuya Hakoda, chief of Asahi Shimbun Seoul Bureau), and Ryan Lee, Korea CEO of the International Business Times.
Even though each presenter had his unique theme, the conclusions were somehow related. According to Ryan Lee, to trasfer from discount to premium Korea has to

• become concensus builder;
• hold discussions between G20 and non-G20 countries;
• create more values;
• exercise more power and influence