Brand Health Check... LG Electronics makes bid for global relevance

Often overlooked amid its North Asian peers - Sony and Samsung - the brand has slowly been making strides towards genuine brand resonance, as it struggles to shake off a reputation for bland, mid-tier mediocrity.

The recent decision to kickstart a blockbuster US$350 million global creative review is proof enough of its intentions. The brand has also shown some savvy in its shortlist - opting for the likes of BBH, Agency.com and DDB - ahead of its nominal incumbent, Y&R.

Recent moves on the mobile front, furthermore, appear promising. LG has seen concrete success from the launch of its Chocolate line - a conscious effort to position itself further up the brand chain. It will hope that the momentum is maintained by the new Shine mobile phone, and the Viewty camera phone.

LG’s hands may be tied by a handset market that is often characterised as being particularly faddish. Despite the three years of intensive surveys that the company  has conducted - which revealed the importance of ‘cool design’ - consumer brand loyalty is often transient. While LG has seen its handset division’s financial results improve, much is expected to depend on how much profit it can make from its cheap phones — rather than how much kudos it can attract from its more chic offerings.

In LG Electronics’ other sectors, the picture is similarly fuzzy. The LCD joint-venture with Philips has emerged from a period of dire performance, but still finds itself in tough competition against Samsung and Sharp, along with plasma display panels. Meanwhile, its low-cost white goods division is hoping to benefit from its repackaging as ‘digital appliances’.

LG’s decision to put its faith in design and technology hardly makes the company unique in the electronics category. But much may yet depend on the company’s global pitch decision; whichever agency wins the brand component can expect to be charged with giving the LG brand the kind of emotional cachet that it still lacks.