Over the last few years, SK hynix has become closer to the public through its YouTube video advertisements. The company delivered sincere “stories” that only SK hynix can tell, by drawing out laughter and admiration with creative ideas, touching the hearts of the audience. These efforts of SK hynix have resulted in small and large achievements at various advertisement awards in the past three years. This year, SK hynix’s advertisement “World-class Cutting-edge Semiconductors: Episodes on Icheon and Cheongju” won the grand prize in the TV advertisement sector of the 27th “Advertisement of the Year” organized by the Korea Advertising Society. By adding creative and unique ideas to SK hynix’s brand identity (BI), “Technology Innovator for a Better World”, the company has shown the great achievement through communicating with the public audience, telling them that SK hynix is manufacturing the world-class cutting-edge semiconductors.
(Left) Episode on “Local specialty of Icheon, Korea”,
(Right) Episode on “Cheongju, a city of world-class semiconductors”
What’s so Special about SK hynix’s Advertisements?
SK hynix is breaking away from the strict image of traditional company advertisements, as it continues to release entertaining content full of wit and humor to convey a friendlier image. To achieve this new image, it would have been meaningless to simply adopt the existing advertising formula, such as highlighting the company’s external growth through facts and figures or exposing the company logo with a celebrity. Therefore, we started to express “something special” in our advertisements, which other corporate advertisements have failed to demonstrate so far.
SK hynix’s corporate campaign, Episode on Exportation – “SK hynix, create the universe from within”
SK hynix’s corporate campaign, Episode on Cooperation for mutual growth –
“The semiconductor that will change the world”
After much deliberation, SK hynix decided to focus on producing “fun-to-watch,” “story-driven” videos by twisting familiar advertising formulas. It was an unprecedented and extraordinary attempt rarely seen from company advertisements. SK hynix hit a few home runs, one after another, in 2018 with its popular “Graduation” and “Exportation” advertisements which explored a fresh concept via the personification of semiconductors, and the episode on “Cooperation for Mutual Growth” which highlighted how the cooperation among partner companies for mutual growth fortified the semiconductor ecosystem. In 2019, SK hynix drew from its growing bag of ideas a new video series set around its Icheon and Cheongju production sites in South Korea, to carry on the success of its acclaimed online video series.
Above all, the stories illustrated in these advertisements continue to draw the keen attention of the public, thanks to incredible directing that expresses the company’s creativity and uniqueness perfectly. Every time a new SK hynix advertisement is released, a new record for the views of SK hynix’s official Youtube channel is set, which proves show how more and more people are eagerly awaiting the next piece of the series.
Jeongho Won, Team Leader of Brand Management Team at SK hynix, said, “We can clearly see the expectations held for our advertisements through the online comments and reactions that come from various stakeholders, as well as the feedback that comes from the advertisement industry. We will continue to do our very best to deliver the company’s sincere messages with creative ideas that resonate with our audiences.”
Watch Episodes on Icheon and Cheongju,
▶TV Advertisement – Episode on Icheon – “Local specialty of Icheon, Korea”
The Icheon episode was inspired by a novel idea stating “the semiconductor is a local specialty of Icheon,” adding to other familiar Icheon specialties such as ceramics, peaches and rice. This idea was thought up after discovering that one of these specialties (ceramics) was once classed as a top-tier industrial product in the nation, so why shouldn’t semiconductors be recognized as well? This imagination met with a story where a member at SK hynix strives to prove his belief with his son, creating the eye-cathing TV commercial.
▶TV Advertisement – Episode on Cheongju – “The world-class semiconductors in Cheongju city”
The episode on Cheongju also started with a novel idea like the episode on Icheon. The advertisement displayed Cheongju’s technological history, from the development of world’s oldest metal type from 650 years ago to the current state-of-the-art semiconductor, while depicting the boss and the employee’s current life and past life. Both episodes on Icheon and Cheongju proved to be a massive hit, each receiving over 20 million views on YouTube. This really goes to show how both videos beautifully captured a distinctive story in both entertaining and touching ways.
