South Korea: Innovation Is In Our DNA

The client, the Embassy of the South Korea, sought to differentiate itself as something other than a) the home of K-pop and b) the country next to North Korea. The target audience included Washington D.C. policymakers, think-tank officials, Asia- and Korea-studies academics and followers of the embassy's Facebook and Twitter accounts. BGR PR has enjoyed a longtime partnership with the client and has a deep understanding of the client's culture, history and many achievements. Conversations with the client and research identified "innovation" as a positive national characteristic that could successfully be mined for historic and current examples which could be crafted into a narrative arc. The project began before the coronavirus outbreak but South Korea's innovative solutions in combatting it -- including drive-through testing -- dovetailed perfectly with the project and provided powerful bookends to the narrative, which were added as the project developed. It was decided that a motion-graphic video would be the best format for telling the country's innovation story. The key objective was achieved: The client was delighted with the quality and content of the video, and that it effectively branded South Korea as a long-time innovator that has responded to the current pandemic with new innovations. When embassy and consulate in-person events resume, officials will show the video to visitors at cultural events, receptions and so on. Additionally, it was a tool for the embassy's Political staff to send to U.S. policymakers and lawmakers as well as think-tank officials. Academics in the field of Asia and Korea studies used it in their curriculum.
The video was not created with the intention of virality, so it was not supported with an advertising budget nor was it aggressively shopped to influencers. Nevertheless, it was tweeted and retweeted by multiple accounts with an aggregate audience of more than 2 million followers. It is the highest-performing video on the embassy's Facebook page with nearly 1,000 views.