Visiting COEX in Korea: Digital Signage and Exhibition
Hello, Shiori here!
I took a quick bullet trip to Korea recently where the Olympics were being held to check out the digital signage and exhibition. What were the key differences and characteristics between Korea and Japan? Let’s find out.
Aiming for COEX
I arrived at Incheon International Airport at around 11:40am. The weather was cloudy with thin clouds spreading across the sky. The character mascots for the Pyeongchang Olympics greeted me at the airport exit, and character seals were even affixed to the automatic doors.
As expected from an Olympic city! Decorations and advertisements for the Olympics were without a doubt displayed in Seoul’s major stations, exuding an event atmosphere of a country that’s proud to host the Olympic games.
My destination was COEX, which is a multiplex building comprised of a movie theater, an aquarium, and apparel shops underground — aptly named the “COEX Mall” — and an office building with exhibition halls and conference rooms above ground.
Samseong Station is an area lined with numerous office building, where it is said that an estimated 140,000 people visit on the weekdays and an estimated 250,000 people visit on the weekends. Around lunchtime, the businessmen and the youngsters who come to hang out at the COEX Mall get jumbled together and liven up the place.
Extraordinary Digital Signage Advertisement
This time around, we helped place an ad for a client at COEX Mall’s digital signage and matched it up with the timing of the Pyeongchang Olympics.
100 meters (330 feet) ultra-large signage spanning one side of a corridor.
Running an ad on a signage of this size for 3 weeks would cost several hundred thousand dollars in Japan (currently, there aren’t any in Japan…) but we were able to put it up for an extraordinary price in Korea.
*For reference, we can put it up for 1/5th of the cost of a signage at the famed Shibuya scramble crossing of a similar location and size.
This is probably due in part to Korea being a country where wherever you walk there is digital signage everywhere, and its sheer number makes advertising relatively cheap.
Incidentally, there is generally no commission to the advertising companies.
COEX Exhibition Hall
Taking a side-long glance at the digital signage, I happen to see an exhibition happening at the COEX exhibition hall so I took a peak inside.
It was an outdoor exhibition for sports & fitness gear and outdoor equipment called “SPOEX.”
On the 1st floor are Hall A and B and on the 3rd floor are Hall C and D for a total of 4 exhibition halls at COEX that can be separated and used accordingly.
Each hall’s size is about the same as Tokyo Big Sight’s East Hall 1, so in all it’s possible to hold an event that’s about the size and scope of East Halls 1-4.
The exhibition booths in Korea weren’t so much different from those in Japan. There were framed wooden booths and system booths.
However, there were more 4-5 meters (13-16.5 feet) booths, taller than those exhibited in Japan, giving a sense of intensity.
The number of staff workers within the booths were less than in Japan. It seemed that the guidance staff were also few in number and that there were more booths that let guests come browse freely rather than assertively negotiating with them.
The event receptionists were able to assist guests in both Chinese and Japanese, and the reception system for visitors from neighboring countries was flawless.
(Thanks to the receptionist that could speak Japanese, I was able to register and enter the exhibition! It probably wouldn’t have been possible with my shoddy English…)
Judy, a Reliable Partner
I had time to go pay a visit to our local partner company in Korea.
It was an energetic company pulled together by two women. Even during the Lehman shock and when MERS became a widespread epidemic in Korea and the economy suddenly took a nosedive, the women put their strength together and overcame it all. Such reliable strength!
However, when MERS was widespread, it was during the time when the office had increased by 200-300 people, on top of the office relocating and recruitment having been completed, they took a big hit due to not enough investment and more or less inevitably had to restructure and downsize the company.
From that experience, they decided to strengthen cooperation vertically by increasing the number of group companies rather than independently increasing the scope of the business in order to protect the employees and the livelihood of their families.
Each company manages the parent company and group company projects while also individually acquiring their own work to create a better balance for management. I found out that this is a common way for companies in Korea to expand their business.
The event promotion in Korea was right on the mark.
I’ll write an update about my trip to the Pyeongchang Olympics in the next sequel!
Stay tuned.
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Writer: Shiori
Shiori supports her clients from all directions with her cheery and calm nature. Her days off are for studying and frequently going to-and-fro the dream world. It has been rumored that she has created a secret society within the company that has been planning many amazing things.
My destination was COEX, which is a multiplex building comprised of a movie theater, an aquarium, and apparel shops underground — aptly named the “COEX Mall” — and an office building with exhibition halls and conference rooms above ground.
Samseong Station is an area lined with numerous office building, where it is said that an estimated 140,000 people visit on the weekdays and an estimated 250,000 people visit on the weekends. Around lunchtime, the businessmen and the youngsters who come to hang out at the COEX Mall get jumbled together and liven up the place.
100 meters (330 feet) ultra-large signage spanning one side of a corridor. 
It was an outdoor exhibition for sports & fitness gear and outdoor equipment called “SPOEX.”
The exhibition booths in Korea weren’t so much different from those in Japan. There were framed wooden booths and system booths.
The number of staff workers within the booths were less than in Japan. It seemed that the guidance staff were also few in number and that there were more booths that let guests come browse freely rather than assertively negotiating with them. 
It was an energetic company pulled together by two women. Even during the Lehman shock and when MERS became a widespread epidemic in Korea and the economy suddenly took a nosedive, the women put their strength together and overcame it all. Such reliable strength!
The event promotion in Korea was right on the mark. 
Shiori supports her clients from all directions with her cheery and calm nature. Her days off are for studying and frequently going to-and-fro the dream world. It has been rumored that she has created a secret society within the company that has been planning many amazing things. 
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