Finally, I-phone arrived at South Korea on last week!

So many people were waiting for this moment, and they are now eager to buy the I-phone. According to the interview from an article in Seattle Pi, I now see what makes I-phone users so satisfied with their phone. I believe that it is various applications. As we have seen in U.S.and the other countries where people can use I-phone, I-phone users make their individual I-phone so unique because they can customize it by choosing diverse applications along their specific interest. Anyway, my point is that I-phone definitely help to expand K-internet business area by providing applications. Most of Korean people have smart phone like I-phone, but application program on a mobile phone is still new to them. Not many K-internet business companies have provided their application service on mobile phone, but many K-internet business companies now try to provide applications because of I-phone. Bring the I-phone into the Korea is a challenge for the companies to expand their business although it is a problem for other mobile phone service providers (except KT) and local mobile phone manufacturer such as Samsung and LG.

Yellow pages? Local Story!

I found a website called Local Story which Korean people consider as an Internet version of yellow pages. It seems very similar to websites I have used in U.S. such as Seamlessweb.com and Citysearch.com in U.S. that provide local store/restaurant’s location, phone number, reviews and order service. Local Story is Location Based Service like those websites, but I found an outstanding service called Bizlog that makes Local Story very different from other LBS websites. Bizlog functions as a homepage of a local store that provides location (map), address, phone number, and pictures of a store like the other LBS websites provide, but the special features is that it provides an interactive place. Merchants and users can communicate in there, so they can share more information the homepage cannot provide. Moreover, Local Story provides SMS service. Users can order and make reservation by using this SMS service, and merchants can also use this service as real- time marketing activity. Merchants can also offer coupon and event and manage their customers by using this website. Although the Local Story partly charges fee to merchants when they use some services, I expect this website will be more advanced when mobile phone provides this service.

IPTV definately affects our lives!

I was so interested in IPTV service after I wrote about it, and I read another article about IPTV yesterday. The article said there is remote health care service called "TV doctor" through IPTV provided by LG Powercomm. It is really amazing that you can check your health and get advise from doctors via TV, so you don't really have to go to your doctors' offices. This service is available because of the IPTV which has not only TV function but also the Internet function. Korean people can see and talk to their doctor by using web cam and mic with TV, and I believe that it will bring more businesses in the Internet market. The Internet phone(+Internet video phone) business is precisely important to provide this health care service, so the Internet phone providers can increase their revenues by the service IPTV offers. The Internet businesses will extend their business area as long as IPTV provides more services, therefore, the IPTV service is certainly important for many Internet business companies to raise their profit. I am wondering what other services IPTV will offer in the future and what other iternet business will float in the market for the services.

What is IPTV??????

I frequently bring the time when I was in Korea in this year, and I remember one thing that so attracted me whenever I was at home. My family uses TV cable called "QOOK" by KT, and it has various functions like usual American cable companies serve such as recording certain program....etc. Anyway, there was interesting button on the remote controller my family uses. Oh.. MG. The remote controller was not only for shifting channels, it was also for searching the web thorough TV. It is possible if you have IPTV service, and you can search anything even while you are watching a TV program. KT has provided this service through "QOOK" since November,2008, and you can now only use one search portal,"NAVER" via IPTV service. Naver have certainly monopolized the IPTV market in Korea so far, but I guess there are several search portal will show up on TV because LG powercomm and SK broadband are serving IPTV now. I have to see what will happen in the future in IPTV and the Internet business areas.

Internet website for children

Last time, I was talking about Naver as No.1 search portal in Korea, and NHN corporation, which owns Naver, has developed another search portal for children called Junior Naver(and there is well-explanation of the website in NHN). As Internet is widely distributed, we cannot neglect children are users of the Internet. Therefore, targeting the children has great potential for the Internet business. The NHN now corporates with many education and children game companies such as EBS (education channel in Korea) and NEXON, since this website provides lots of contents for children's education and entertainment.
There are more web portal for children in Korea such as Daum Kidjjang, and Yahoo kids Korea, and there is English version of Yahoo kids( I think it is not like "search portal" for kids in Korea, but just entertainment website for kids.) Check them out and see what's different.

#1 Search engine in Korea

Naver has stayed in No.1 position for few years as a biggest search portal in Korea, and it is owned by NHN Corporation which also owns Me2day, Hangame and Junior Naver. As a research says on the NHN Cop. website, The naver's number of subscribers is 34 million, and number of daily unique visitors is 17 million(July,2009). It is such a huge number in a small country like South Korea.
Now, they are making billions dollar in a year, and I am just wondering that what makes naver so special? What is the fact that attracts people to Naver? Naver initiated Knowledge iN, Naver's Knowledge Search service on Oct. 2002, and I believe that this service have attracted so many users to this website. I believe that this is first knowledge search service on the internet ( Yahoo ask/answer was launched by Yahoo! on December 13, 2005 ). I think it is so unique and useful enough to attract people into this website. Many people are using this Knowledge search service right now, and the number of users will continue to increase as the service becomes improved. As I mentioned in the previous post, portals will change their forms of services, and this knowledge search service will become massive part in search engines, which allows users to communication as they search, ask and answer, in the future. What do you think of this service? Does it look so unique to attract people into this website? It may seems little useless for the other countries' people, but let's think about it. What if Google has the same service of Wikipedia? isn't it going to attract more people into Google?

I-phone! what you gonna do in Korea?

I was in Korea for four months in this year, and I felt like I came from stone age into the new world because so many things are so quickly changed in Korea. The most amazing change was the cell phone became more advanced that I am now able to see a person's face while I am talking to the person via cell phone. Korean people are very obsessive to have NEW phone, so it was a little wield that I-phone did not come to the Korea yet(there is a blog about iphone in korea). I read an article about I-phone in Korea, and it was interestingly related to the internet business in Korea;"The iPhone will create a breakthrough for Korea's wireless internet services". What is Iphone gonna do in Korea internet business?

First, I believe that it will boost the microblog such as Twitter or Me2day. Only some Korean people use the twitter or Me2day(Korean style of Twitter) now, but I-phone will bring huge amount of benefit in the microblog business area.

Also, I-phone will bring "real ubiquitous" computing- 24/7 online. the things that I was interested about I-phone has google map and weather. The functions you can download on App-store through free internet service in I-phone will attract more people and more internet business in Korea.

Moreover, the data convergence business will be broader through I-phone that will re-focus on the data sync service on the internet in Korea, and Korean search engines become more functionalized by it. The I-phone will bring so many potential Opportunities to the K-internet business, but I think it can be such a threat as well.

Nexon grows up so much!

the company Nexon is one of the biggest online game companies in S.Korea, and it is now available in Japan, Europe and America. Since I was playing lots of games(Cartriders, BandB..etc) are presented by Nexon, this company is very familiar to me. The company have developed lots of interesting games, and one game called Maplestory hit all of the world( I meant part of Asia, Europe and North America) . I just found there are lots of blogs talk about Maplestory that shows people's attention on the game. Now I wonder how much money Nexon have earned so far. An article from Insidesocialgames.com reported that 92 million people in the world are users of Maplestory! The article reported "Nexon said that in 2005, the year MapleStory was launched in North America, revenues were upwards of $230 million with a $75 million net profit, and in 2007, U.S. sales of virtual goods were around $30 million." It is only in U.S, and I assume that their total profit would be more than twice of the amount of money. The data is from 2005 and 2007, the company did not take a revenue hit in 2008, and the company announced that their revenue grows 36%in North America.(gameindustry.biz)

Who made best speed internet in the world?

Last week, Aaron said S.Korea has #1 speed internet, and the rank still did not change yet. .
The

"Top Countries by Download Speed" from speedtest.net shows S.Korea's Internet speed is still fastest one. Who made the fastest internet in the world then? There are several Cable service companies in Korea, and I believe that KT is the biggest cable company in Korea. I just read an article from Koreantimes, and KT was #1 internet service provider in 2007, and I am pretty sure that KT is still #1 after they brought KT Wibro(it is like Wifi). Like TimeWarner or Verizon in U.S., KT is now offering variety service all together that has internet+cable+phone, and KT is becoming more powerful after affilating with KTF mobile company.

Showing AD is one of their internet and cable TV service called "QOOK" AD on air, and KT attracts more customers by it.

Do you love shooting game?

Special Force is one of the popular FPS shooting games in Korea. Oh.. well.. I remember it made me crazy few years ago..I just sat in front on computer monitor and played this game for few hours strait in a PCROOM(hundreds of PC in there, you pay about a dollar for an hour to use them), and I was doing the same thing over and over for few month until I started playing another game from Nexon. Yeah. it is kinda addictive once you start playing it, and you will buy lots of different guns and items to win in the game! Anyway, the company of Special Force is now making millions dollar by exporting it to the other countries; Philippine, Taiwan, China...etc. In China, the game hit the peak of the sales only in 6months from the time it was released in there although the game is partly fee-charging one. Now, the company will release the 2nd edition of Special Force on next March which they have developed it for 2yrs, and they expect the sales about 8.9 million dollars for 9months(from March 2010- September 2010).

Wanna play it? there is English version in here, Click!

Cyworld- Korean Vr. of Facebook

I just read an Article about Cyworld in Businessweek website that was published 2005.

Anyway, What is Cyworld? It looks like it---->

I can tell it is like "small e- society" such as Facebook or Myspace in U.S.

It is totallly free to have your own Mini-hompy( which is like your own facebook) , but SKT(which owned Cyworld) got profits from Cyworld about 50 million dollars on 2006, and I am sure that profit have gone up from that time . How could it be possible? As the article says, they sell dotori( which has a value like money; 1 dotori= about 10 cents) to the users who decorate their own miny-hompy with their choice of music, templates and text style...etc. So the profits are not only for Cyworld, but it is also for music and art industries that provide their work. There is one female singer who sold one of her songs for 6 dotori, and she earned about 100 thousand dollars in a month through only Cyworld. Isn't that great deal for her? oh, yeah. It is great deal for Cyworld too! Now, the Cyworld is seeking for another new item like the Dotori that increases their profit.

check out the u.s ver. of Cyworld>> U.S. Cyworld

Give you an idea of this Blog

Hi there,
I just changed my blog subject to Business in Korea Internet from the Funny ads.
It was great to talk with Aaron about all blog thing I missed, and he gave me great idea to make another blog that perfectly fits for this Business of Media class. I have been using Internet since the time when I was 5 or 6th grade(2000..I guess) because of the K-internet service was expanding broadly at that time, and I know very well enough to talk about it.I want to talk about K-internet which is the fastest one in the world and business in the K-internet that interests so many people in different countries.

economy and humorous ads

Few days ago, I read an interesting article that is about this period of bad economy and humorous advertising. It says humorous ads are more popular(it implies that humorous ads sell more products) during this period. How does the result come up?

I remember the last year, the horrible year ever I had in NYC, dollar currency was crazily going up high, so I had to take a break and go back to my country for few months and waited until the currency became stable, and many people who are around me got laid off or fired by their companies. I could feel that it is really harsh time for everyone, and some people said that it is like the depression all over the world. Now, I assume that the economy gets better, but it is not stable at all.

What about the advertising industry? I believe that the advertising industry also got damage from this period because it is like the food chain that clients need to sell their products through advertising to consumers. So the advertising industry would get damages if consumers could not buy client's products because the company of the client may reduce the expense for advertising.

Therefore, advertisers need to have knowledge of what grasps consumers' eyes even though consumers are cautious about their expense because of the bad-economy. Most people get depressed during this time because of economically bad circumstance, and they are seeking for something that refreshes their emotion. So the advertisers found the right answer; humor.

Humorous ads are always grasp people's eyes, but they are even more effective during this time since people seek for something that makes their feeling better. Advertisers catch the people's attention by humor in an ad, and it attracts people to buy products or get services.

I think the article shows that how advertising is constructed psychologically and emotionally. Yup. It really is!

where does the light come from?

I have seen these Ads when I was in Korea, and it always makes me laugh whenever I see them. I guess the Ads came out around 2005, and the ads are for our familiar gum brand ; Orbit. These ads transmit what is the product about very well. Consumers can directly see the brand of Product in these ads since the models are holding them, also they can know that what is the product all about by the light from the lamp shades the models wear on their head ; gum that makes your teeth white! I don't know whether the company still make Orbit White, but I want to try one to see the result that is like this. Haha!

Outdoor advertising for Mr.clean

Do you know Mr. Clean??

I am very familiar with this character since I came to U.S. because I am trying to keep my apartment clean(although I am not that a clean person) and the Mr.clean's products have helped me a lot to keep my apartment clean. (I believe that the Magic Eraser from the company is amazing! that cleans everything.) I am sure you all also know what is Mr.clean, what the products are and what the symbolic character of it is.
This outdoor advertising shows very white outstanding one line with the character of company on the cross walk, and we will directly know that it's an advertising from Mr.clean., and we will laugh because of the only one very white line the character on it!
Did Mr. clean make the line even whiter with products from the company?
The advertising is very simple but has impact because of our general idea of the character from the company. As we know, the character is best symbol of the Mr. clean company, and we also know that this company sells "cleaning products". The idea came from our everyday lives ; products of the company in markets we go and other ads on air we see.
So it has an impact to communicate with people without saying any word. This simple outdoor advertising gives people strong idea of the company and their products.

Want to taste it!

This commercial is from Japan and advertise Morigana Chocolate.




Generally, a commercial time length is about 30-40seconds,but the playing time of this ad is abnormally longer than usual commercial;1min 59sec. It is about 4times longer than general commercial.

Then, Why I could not away my eyes from this commercial although it was a lot longer than the others? And why I want to taste the chocolate in this ad?

I just found this commercial on the web, so I knew it is definitely an ad. Also I would know it if I saw the ad on air(TV). I knew that it is not "REAL" and advertises something, But my eyes were stuck in this piece because I wanted to know when she will blink her eyes.
She doesn't blink her eyes for over a minute in this ads. The ad just shows risky situations she faced such as hitting by a soccer ball or sneezing by salt powder, and the situations and reactions of her and the people who watch it were quietly funny(the funniness also makes me keep watching this ad). The people are watching her through TV with tension in this ad make me feel like I am one of them.
I guess these make my eyes stick on the ad until it finally shows the purpose of this ad; advertising the chocolate from Morigana.

We, both I and the people in the ad were waiting the time she blinks her eyes, and she "slowly" closes her eyes when she eat a chocolate. The tension and strain disappear by that time, and we both feel empty and hollow. Moreover, the feeling makes us think 'what made her eyes blink?'

Yeah, The chocolate!
She was not blinking her eyes but "slowly closes" them because of it.
Blinking is very quick and sudden with tension, but "slowly closing her eyes" shows
her enjoyment by its savor.
So it finally makes me want to taste the chocolate.

This ad is funny and brilliant.Also it does its job;advertising the product with huge impact.


Now, do you want a peace of this chocolate from Morigana? if you do, the advertisers of the ad succeed in their job !

Heineken commercial on air 2008.

I love Heineken ads both on paper and TV. Most of Heineken ads are very brilliant! I am sure that this Heineken ad made you laugh when you watched it. How could it make you laugh within 30 second? Isn't that great?

I think there are some points why it made you laugh.

The ad opens up the reaction of some women first when they see nice over sized closet. There is a point, the common idea of women; they love shopping and dressing up. So they always dream of huge and lovely closet with full of nice clothes and accessories. In this ad, we can see the women's surprise, pleasantness, happiness, and even enviousness by their reaction. Then, we can hear guys' hurrah. Then, the ad shows what is going on with them. Yeah. There is a huge refrigerator with full of beer bottles! The guys are jumping around and expressing their happiness to just see the icy- nicy Heineken beer bottles in there.

It opposes men to women.
Man loves beer.
Woman loves shopping and nice rooms (including closet).

also, I think that there is another idea; the beers in that refrigerator can be shared but clothes in the closet can not. This ad definitely has symbolism and also may have a little sexism, but we laugh because of our common idea of these things. If you go to youtube and see the comment below this ad, you will see what common sense people have(like, thank god! I am a man).

I guess Heineken have sold more beer bottles to men after this commercial released.

I just wonder that whether beer can be a symbol of women someday. hmm..

Introduction of the BLOG

Purpose of advertising on Media is mostly used in helping sell products and services, and it communicates with people with a message. In this blog, I will focus on ads that communicate their information to consumers in a humorous way, so they make consumers laugh while they are giving messege of products or services. I think it is one of good ways to transmit a message to consumers, so that the consumers can get the message in an ad easily and quickly. I set up this blog because of the course; business of media, which I am taking this Fall09 semester in NYU. But I have to say this blog is not created only for the course and getting grade from it, but also it is for myself with enjoyment of posting ads what I like.