Friday, September 08, 2006

SOUTH KOREAN CARMAKER: TAIWAN SHOULD DEVELOP `BRAND FACTORS'

Taipei, Sep. 5 (CNA) Taiwanese corporations should develop "Taiwanese factors in the branding process" by looking back at Taiwan's culture, history and philosophy, the vice president of South Korea's Hyundai KIA Motor Corp. said Tuesday.

The revision of its brand strategy has helped Hyundai enormously, which shows the importance of branding, Hyundai-KIA Vice President Kim Young-ill said in an international forum in Taipei.

Kim encouraged Taiwanese corporation to develop "Taiwanese factors, " citing Hyundai's "Korean factors" as an example, on their way to "global branding."

Hyundai-KIA re-organized its brand strategy in 1999, Kim said in the Branding Taiwan Forum, held to promote branding awareness in Taiwan.

By defining its brand positioning, brand identity, design identity and product identity, the Korean company was able to improve its past designs, which were inconsistent and failed to develop any strategy, he said.

The effort has shown promising results, as Hyundai-KIA registered a compound annual growth rate of 11% during 2002-2006 and now sells over 4 million cars a year.

Kim said the company looked back to its past and looked to the future. "First we looked at how we have been and decided what we want to be. The final step is goal-setting, " he said.