Kang Ji-hyun, CEO of Servicplan Korea

'The Dark Horse' in the advertising world that won the top prize for Cannes Lyons... Kang Ji-hyun, CEO of Servicplan Korea

A small Korean advertising company with only 25 employees is drawing attention as it holds the "Titanium Lions", the highest award at this year's Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. Serviceplan Korea, which produced an advertising campaign for "DOT," a smart pad manufacturer for the visually impaired, is the main character of this honor.

The Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival is unfamiliar to the public, but it is considered one of the world's top three advertising festivals and is also famous for its nickname "The Olympics in Advertising." The Titanium Award is the most prestigious award given by the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival. In other words, a small Korean company won a gold medal in the "Olympics in the Advertising World," where global advertising companies compete.

Serviceplan Korea is a Korean subsidiary of Serviceplan Group, a global advertising company based in Germany.  CEO Kang Ji-hyun (45), who became the CEO of a Korean corporation in 2017, has been noted several times in the Korean market, which is virtually dominated by large agencies such as Cheil Worldwide and Innocean. Recently, a notable result is a North American e-commerce advertising and marketing project for SK Hynix SSD products. Hynix's sales ranking for the Amazon category rose from 217th to 1st place. 

What is the secret of this  little 'David of the advertising world '? Representative Kang says, "Creativity." What CEO Kang is working on the most is settling a horizontal culture and hiring talent. "I think the two pillars of creating differentiated creativity are the horizontal culture and various perspectives.  To have creative and innovative ideas, you need a lens of diversity that absorbs and challenges anything. That's why people from different backgrounds are important when hiring employees, even if they are not in the advertising industry. 

In order for these talents to spread their ideas freely, it is important to have a horizontal culture where even new employees can pour criticism on the CEO at any time."

CEO Kang plans to expand the base of the Korean market based on differentiated creativity.  Above all, I want to help Korean brands advance overseas based on their global capabilities. "Serviceplan's 34 offices and 4,500 employees worldwide are working as closely as a 'one team'.  Even some large companies suffer from infrastructure or cultural problems when they enter overseas markets, and we want to be their strong partners based on the resources of Serviceplan."

Original Article : 칸 라이언즈 최고상 타낸 광고계 ‘다크호스’…강지현 서비스플랜코리아 대표 - 매경ECONOMY (mk.co.kr)

MAEKYUNG ECONOMY NO.2178 (05.Oct.2022~11.Oct.2022)