Global advertising, branding and market research conglomerate WPP yesterday signalled their confidence in South Korean economic and consumer growth prospects with the acquisition of 36% of LG Ad, South Korea's largest advertising agency, by group properties Ogilvy and Young & Rubicam.

South Korea, one of the richest countries in the world with disposable consumer income at levels most of the rest of the world can only dream about, is one of Asia's contemporary success stories, despite the blimp on the radar caused by it's financial crisis in the middle of the last decade. Since then however, its growth has out-paced that of East Asian neighbours Japan and Taiwan as well as that of South East Asian counterparts. Only China has grown faster in the past 5 years, but that is from a far lower and uneven baseline. South Korean workers remain some of the highest paid world wide.

That said, the South Korean consumer market is unique and a local presence for any media or advertising group is essential. A lot of it's strength is based on familiar Asian-model family networks, both socially and in business. Relative to other Asian consumer markets, Koreans tend to defer large purchases and reach financial independence later, relying on family networks to support them during educative years and the first years of marriage. Koreans are also more conservative. They have the highest proportion, by far, of Christians than any other East Asian country. Far more than other Asian consumer markets, there is a general suspicion of global and Western brands and a local "pride", causing some global brands to have to rebrand with a more local "face" in the domestic Korean market. After all, some of the world's largest brands are Korean including the electronics giant Samsung and car manufacturing brands.

South Korea forged ahead in the early years of 2000 while other Asian economies stuttered along, and while this growth has slowed from it's relative heady levels back then, South Korea has well demonstrated it's resilience and long term substance.

According to WPP, South Korea's advertising market is worth USD 5.6 billion and is the third largest in Asia, and corrects a relative under-representation for WPP in Korea.

Sir Martin Sorrell, Chief Executive Officer of WPP, said that "...The partnership will allow LG Ad to work closely with some of our leading company brands. It also allows us to take the experience of Korea - as perhaps the market in the world which is most successfully developed in terms of the integration of the internet broadband and conventional media ­ to the rest of the world..."

LG Ad had revenues of KRW 57.3 billion in 2001 and employs over 500 people. Its major clients include LG Electronics, LG Chemical, LG Telecom, LG Group, Korean Air, Daehan Investment & Trust and Nike.

WPP’s existing operations in Korea include advertising agencies Ogilvy & Mather, Dentsu Young & Rubicam, JWT/AdVenture; media specialists Mediaedge:cia and new media experts OgilvyInteractive; information and consultancy company Research International; public relations firms Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, Merit/Burson-Marsteller; branding and identity firm Landor Associates; and promotions specialists Maxx Marketing.