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An advertisement for kimchi in Times Square in New York (courtesy of Daesang)

“Personally, I like kimchi. I especially like eating it as a side dish at Korean restaurants. Nowadays, it’s easy to buy kimchi in New York or anywhere.”

“The texture is good, it’s healthy and refreshing. The spicy taste is also great. Kimchi is also a good source of probiotics.”

The bright red kimchi stands out against a background of black-and-white slow-motion images of people from around the world eating kimchi. The people who have tasted kimchi praise its taste and texture.

But these images aren’t playing on TVs in Korean households, rather, the advertisement campaign video for kimchi is being screened on an electronic billboard in the middle of New York’s Times Square.

Daesang announced Wednesday that it would be running advertisements for its kimchi on an electronic advertising billboard in New York’s Times Square.

An ad for the corporation’s Jongga kimchi brand first started running on the electronic billboard of the American Eagle building in Times Square on Monday and will run a total of 6,720 times until Nov. 6.

Daesang’s advertisement for its kimchi brand Jongga plays in Times Square, New York. (courtesy of Daesang)

The theme of the video is “Korea’s Kimchi, Now for Everyone.” In it, people from all over the world taste the Korean staple and describe it with words such as “crunchy,” “flavorful,” “healthy” and “refreshing.”

Daesang plans to continue kimchi production and advertising campaigns in the US, using it as a base to promote its goal of making kimchi global.

In March, Daesang became the first player in the Korean food industry to open a large-scale factory in the US to produce kimchi locally. The company has also been expanding its presence in major US stores such as Walmart and Costco.

Before this Times Square campaign, Daesang had run an ad for kimchi in the New York Times last year.

Jongga’s kimchi has now hit markets in more than 40 countries around the world, including China, Japan, Singapore, and the US. The company’s exports rose 131 percent in a matter of five years, from US$29 million in 2016 to US$67 million last year.

As of the first half of 2022, Jongga’s sales accounted for 60 percent of South Korea’s total kimchi exports. Exports to the US also reached US$16.17 million in 2021, marking an increase of 37.8 percent compared to the previous year.

“Daesang, the representative kimchi brand of Korea, where kimchi originated, has been at the forefront of promoting the excellence and authenticity of kimchi to the world,” commented Jung-bae Lim, Daesang’s president and CEO.

“Moving forward, we will continue to carry out various global activities so that ‘Korean kimchi’ can become ‘everyone's kimchi,’” Lim said.

By Yu Sun-hui, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]