Major Korean companies embrace film as new marketing tool

Actor Gong Seung-yeon, left, in a scene from the film "Deadline" / Courtesy of Special Movie City By Park Jae-hyuk Film-based storytelling has emerged as a new method for Korean companies to promote themselves. On top of merely placing their products in movies, major conglomerates have begun making films that tell stories about their products and employees. The most recent example is that of POSCO who produced an 85-minute film called "Deadline," premiering on Wednesday at Lotte Cinema theaters nationwide.

Starring Gong Seung-yeon, Park Ji-il and Jeong Seok-yong, the film depicts how POSCO employees saved the company’s main steel mill in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, during Typhoon Hinnamnor , which flooded the city in September 2022. As the superstorm approached the steel mill, POSCO's management made the unprecedented decision to halt all operations for the first time since steelmaking began in 1973. This move prevented furnace explosions, but it took 135 days to fully restore the mill to normal operations.



POSCO said that the filming of the movie took place at around 20 spots around the steel mill, although access to the facility was restricted for security reasons. With a plan to donate profits from the movie to restoration work related to other natural disasters, POSCO will release another documentary film about its 135-day restoration work, through Tving, a local streaming platform. "'Deadline' is the first commercial movie based on a true story in the Korean manufacturing industry," said Kwon Bong-keun, who directed the film.

"Not only does the film show how POSCO employees overcame the catastrophe, it will also make the audience realize that anyone can face an unexpected climate disaster." In June, Hyundai Motor released a 13-minute sci-fi film called "Night Fishing," starring Son Suk-ku. The movie was filmed by cameras installed on the IONIQ 5, an electric vehicle, without showing the whole shape of the car.

It attracted 46,000 admissions in Korea and won the Best Editing award at the 28th Fantasia International Film Festival in Canada in July, where it was officially selected for the international short film competition. Read More Typhoon-hit POSCO steel mill on course for normalization Last year, Samsung Electronics collaborated with Na Hong-jin, director of "The Chaser" (2008), "The Yellow Sea" (2010) and "The Wailing" (2016), to produce a 10-minute movie, "FAITH," which was filmed with the Galaxy S23 Ultra smartphone..