World Cup 2010 - Promotion Mania

Support banner in front of the World Trade Center complex COEX

Bear with me. As long as Korea is still in this, I'm going to be talking about the World Cup. Since our final match of the first round is coming up with our team's future uncertain, I'm posting the remainder of my photos to be on the safe side.
Should we pass this round, I assure you there still would be endless things to post about, so even if you're not a football fan, especially if you're not a football fan, just bear with me. It's not as if I talk about actual football, anyway.

I think this is the only official mascot - i.e. non-Red Devil - promotion I've seen. Entry of COEX Mall from the metro station. Talking about the metro, there are a lot of promotions being done in the stations. The following ads featuring figure skating Olympic gold medalist Yuna Kim and the K-pop group Big Bang are plastered everywhere. In Red Devil attire, of course.

The Seoul Metro are also promoting the use of the trains as transportation to outdoor cheering locations on their bulletin boards.

World Cup related promotion has got to be the easiest thing ever, for you can link it to almost anything and everything. Like cosmetics. If you're going to cheer outside, you definitely need sunscreen. If you buy one, you get one free - we call those promotions "1+1".

You're going to make appointments, share your feelings about the match; the telecommunications companies are definitely going to join in the hoopla. KT is promoting a "national cheering campaign" and their official web site blasts a World Cup cheering song in the intro page.

Convenience stores have a variety of goods - promotion jackpot.

Fast-food joints offer special sets and packs, like a 1+1 shrimp burger promotion at Lotteria.

UNO is offering gifts with a roulette game:

Room service "cheering" set at the Park Hyatt includes balloon sticks, aka thunder sticks.

The most common promotional item is the t-shirt. I have no idea how the companies are going to deal with leftover stock, as the slogans change with every World Cup year. There are companies that have printed generic phrases on their t-shirts which I think is a smart option. Especially for the non-clothing related companies who just created shirts for the occasion, like character shop Dalki:

Many sportswear brands have high profile K-pop idols for their main models. Spris features 2PM:

SPAO feature Super Junior. They also have Girls' Generation (SNSD) but I only took a photo of the boys. Heh.

Basic House has Kim Hyun Joong of SS501 as their posterboy:

BSX has several big guns on their roster: Big Bang (who were in the promotions with Yuna, way above), heartthrob actor So Jisub, and hiphop guru Tiger JK. They wrapped their whole flagship store:

Then there are the brands who participate in the promotions, without spending ridiculous amounts of money on celebrity models:

I got my red t-shirt from peter & paul at the COEX mall:

And one of the funniest promotions I've seen: 50% off on red lingerie.

Plushies get in the mood. Quite hilarious, because Rilakkuma is a Japanese character.

The final match with Nigeria is up in a few hours. I'm thankful I work from home. Can't imagine how difficult it would be for the people who stay up to watch the match (which starts at 3:30 am) to go to work tomorrow. I predict there will be a lot of dozing off in meetings, although I'm quite sure it will be forgiven.