A billboard on the American Eagle building in Times Square, New York City, screens Daesang's kimchi advertisement on Oct. 10. Courtesy of Daesang

Firm runs kimchi ad in Times Square

By Kim Jae-heun

Daesang is speeding up its overseas food business expansion as it tries to generate more income outside Korea amid intensifying competition at home, according to company officials, Friday.

After opening a large-scale kimchi manufacturing plant in the United States in March, it recently started promoting the Korean traditional side dish on a Times Square billboard in New York starting from Oct. 10. The company said it spent some 1 billion won ($700,084) on the advertisement and it will be screened a total of 6,720 times through Nov. 6.

In the video advertisement, Daesang introduces the Korean traditional side dish as "Korean kimchi, now for everyone" and people from around the world share their experiences of it.

"We have planned an advertisement for kimchi in Times Square to promote its authenticity (as a Korean traditional food), following a paper advertisement in The New York Times last year," a Daesang official said.

A scene from Daesang's kimchi video advertisement screened in Times Square, New York City / Courtesy of Daesang

Daesang Holdings Vice Chairwoman Lim Se-ryung reportedly participated in designing the campaign. Earlier in September, Lim showed up at the Emmy Awards held in Los Angeles with her longtime boyfriend, Lee Jung-jae, who won the Outstanding Lead Actor award in the drama category. The vice chairwoman rode on the popularity of Netflix's megahit series, "Squid Game," to promote kimchi worldwide and she will continue to do so in the near future.

Daesang established a large-scale kimchi production facility in Los Angeles in March, sharing Lim's goal. The company revealed its plan to supply kimchi products produced in the United States to Canada, Europe and Oceania.

The food firm invested about 200 billion won in building the manufacturing plant and it is expected to produce 2,000 tons of kimchi annually.

Daesang is also expanding its retail channels in the United States with Costco and Walmart. Currently, the company is exporting its kimchi products to 40 countries including the United States, Europe, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Its exports rose 131 percent from $29 million in 2016 to $67 million last year, reaching an all-time high.

"We will continue to promote the excellence of kimchi abroad as the representative kimchi maker in the world," the official said.