LG expands sponsorship for Olympians
LG Group is standing at the forefront in providing support for talented athletes competing in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
The nation’s fourth-largest conglomerate is best-known for its active participation in corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs here and abroad.
LG Group and its major affiliates said they will continue their CSR drive at the upcoming event set to begin next February, contributing to raising the global profile of the potential-laden national winter sports teams here.
Starting in March 2016, LG signed a sponsorship for the Games, building infrastructure for the Olympic committee’s head office and outdoor advertising signs.
LG Electronics, Korea’s leading electronics and home appliance manufacturer, is also one of the most influential sponsors of the event. The latest sponsorship deal was signed in July when the company became the official sponsor of the national ice hockey team.
Under the partnership, the company will sponsor Korean men’s and women’s ice hockey teams for a year. The men’s team has particularly drawn keen attention from the public after winning a runner-up in the second-division world ice hockey championship in this April. The Korean team clinched a qualification for the World Championship for the first time since 1979.
The achievement is noteworthy, as ice hockey is considered a non-mainstream sport here, with only about 200 professional players registered.
To raise the awareness and popularity of the sport, LG used the women’s national team as models for the firm’s refrigerator commercials. The women’s team was fourth at the 2017 Sapporo Asian Winter Games.
The electronics giant has also served as a main sponsor of the national skeleton team since 2015, as the company says the sports comes with a huge growth potential here. The Korean skeleton national team, established in 2006, has achieved record results each year.
In particular, Yun Sung-bin, the nation’s top skeleton racer, has won one gold, three silver and two bronze medals during the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Feder- ation World Cup competition. At the upcoming Olympics, skeleton is considered one of the most medal-promising sports for Korea.
In April, the company also donated 100 million won ($88,400) for the national skeleton team as an incentive for their outstanding results in global competitions.
LG Electronics is also supporting Cha Jun-hwan, one of the most popular figure skaters in Korea along with retired world champion Kim Yuna. The company will continue its sponsorship of Cha for the next two years. The company said it expects Cha to appear in the firm’s TV commercials in a near future.
“LG Group and affiliates hope to contribute to enhance the nation’s sports culture by boosting public interest in promising winter sports,” an LG Group official said. “We will continue sparing no efforts in supporting and encouraging national teams and rising stars not just in ice hockey and skeleton, but other disciplines.”
The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics will kick off on Feb. 9 next year in the nation’s eastern mountain region of Gangwon Province. This is the first time that Korea has hosted the Winter Olympics.