R&D Korea 2014

Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy

The Challenge

The R&D Korea 2014 held November 11-13 in EXCO, exhibition & convention center in Daegu Metropolitan City, South Korea is a trade fair designed to showcase R&D innovations in our industries serving as the growth engine of the national economy. With the slogan of ‘R&D meets business’ the exhibition was aimed at building a network among industry researchers and technology buyers and promoting technologies and achievements from robotics, manufacturing, automotive, transportation and ICT directly related to the health of people.

The previous exhibitions were focused on promotion itself through display of new developments, discussions, forums and technology presentation and announcement. However, R&D Korea 2014 was planned with a focus on commercialization of R&D technology.

To highlight the roles of public organizations in boosting the local economy, R&D Korea 2014 was held outside Seoul for the first time among the events designed to promote R&D achievements. This was intended to 1) contributing to the development of the nation’s industrial R&D, and balanced development of R&D across the nation, 2) boosting the local industry and economy and generating local jobs from relocation of public institutions outside the capital and 3) developing a nationwide R&D business market. Well aware of the intended purposes of the event, PR House performed strategic media relations activities to shed light on the significance of the event.

The Solution

As R&D Korea 2014 was held outside Seoul, PR House focused on exposing the event to nationwide broadcasting including news and current affairs and information programs of terrestrial broadcasting networks.

Much of our energy was put into PR activities prior to the opening of the event. For instance, feature articles, columns and interviews were developed to raise awareness of the event among the media and the general public before its opening. In addition, utilizing 160,000 database, eDMs were sent out and press invitations were also distributed to news photographers, reporters covering Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy as well as online media whose articles are featured on Korea’s major portals.

In accordance with the slogan of R&D Korea 2014, ‘R&D meets business!’ we set out to expose success cases to terrestrial broadcasting networks, front-page top articles of major daily papers and a three-page feature article of annexed pages of a major business paper to bring more visibility to the successful transition from R&D to commercialization.

The Result

Based on the solution strategy described above, PR House successfully conducted PR activities before and during the event.

As part of pre-event activities, we posted interview articles with major dailies to publicize the significance of the event, the expected benefits and vision as the first-ever R&D event held outside Seoul. In addition, the products and technologies to be displayed during the R&D Korea 2014 were put on the front-page article of major dailies. Interviews, columns and feature articles developed in the leading up to the event were all featured as planned with positive angles.

The event was also covered by ‘News 7’ of KBS, the national broadcaster of South Korea. Despite the fact that it was held in Daegu, three to four hour drive from Seoul, the displayed products of the fair were updated in real-time. In addition, YTN, a 24-hour news channel in South Korea reported the event twice while SBS, a national South Korean television network introduced the event’s achievements, displayed products and the significance as the first-ever R&D event held outside Seoul through its information and news programs.

Our successful media efforts for R&D Korea 2014 have proven that a specialized event concerning national industrial technologies can be successfully held in cities other than Seoul.