Korean advertising agencies are gearing up for the Internet ad market by strengthening sales teams and collaborating with foreign advertising firms, according to industry sources.
Cheil Communications, LG Ad, Diamond Ad and other leading agencies recently
have recruited experienced sales people, and they are seeking tie-ups with
foreign Internet ad sales companies.
In addition, second-string companies such as Oricom, Phoenix Communication and
Eastern Ad recently have established Internet ad sales team, as the market for Internet advertising has grown faster than they had anticipated.
The sources predict that this year’s Internet advertising market will more
than double to over 40 billion won (about US$33 million). Also, the number of Korean Internet users will exceed 6 million by the year’s end from 4.3 million last June.
LG Ad, the in-house ad agency of LG Group, is expecting 1999 sales of
Internet advertising to reach 4.5 billion won (US$3.7 million), representing
an increase of 170 percent from the previous year.
Cheil Communications, which is affiliated with Samsung Group, also
restructured its digital marketing team into an interactive marketing team.
Its Internet ad sales target for this year is 10 billion won (US$8.3 million).
Diamond Ad has expanded its Internet advertising team, and changed the name
from Multi-media team to Interactive team, while seeking alliances with
foreign companies like RealMedia Inc.
