My Calling Is Profiler [EN]: Chapter 521

“The image people have of Chinese products is simple: cheap, poorly made, and prone to exploding—except for the bombs.”

“How does a country with that reputation maintain its value?”

“Quality control. Thorough quality control from start to finish. Maintaining the quality of the product, from the leather to the thread, so people don’t think, ‘Made in China,’ but recognize it as a luxury brand and are willing to pay for it.”

“They created profit by increasing the future value.”

“But what about Do Jiwon in contrast? He mortgaged the company’s future for quick money.”

“So, you’re saying they don’t have the ability to maintain brand value?”

“Exactly. If that’s the goal, it would be better to promote Go Dumin as president.”

“But he’s from public relations?”

“Public relations can’t be the *main* focus. It doesn’t win projects or generate revenue directly. While it’s important, in a company, public relations is an auxiliary function, not the core.”

“Currently, the company producing the product has weak social recognition. Frankly, it’s barely surviving solely on the Hyunsung Group’s name.”

“On the surface, it shows a profit, but the profit margin isn’t significant. It’s barely breaking even.”

“In the long term, it’s difficult for the brand to last.”

“Even if people trust and use it because of the Hyunsung Group name, it’s because of Hyunsung’s brand value, not the product’s.”

“Overall, the product is definitely good, but it’s not well-known, and the image isn’t complete yet.”

“Hmm….”

“The first thing to do in this situation is public relations, not cost reduction.”

Bae Deokgi nodded, as if he understood Park Dojoon’s words. Bae Deokgi also knew that it was important to create its own brand while doing public relations.

He knew that a 30-year-old brand with a luxury image is more profitable than pouring 100 billion won [approximately $75 million USD] into promoting a 1-year-old brand.

“I understand. I’ll think about it more.”

Of course, he couldn’t unconditionally accept Park Dojoon’s words, but considering his insights, he could meet with people again and make a decision.

“Is there anything else you want to ask?”

“Ah, there is one more thing.”

“What is it?”

“It’s work related to branding, just like you said.”

“I’m a police officer, though?”

*Isn’t that something you need to know in the public relations field?*

“Of course. But you *do* know?”

“Yes, well… I know.”

It was illegal to give money directly to Park Dojoon, but if Park Dojoon provided goodwill, he could give some favors to Haneul Industries.

*That’s their way of doing business.*

“Still, I’m not a professional in public relations. There are specialized companies for that, aren’t there?”

“There are. We even had a contract, but they messed up and got fired recently.”

“What do you mean by ‘messed up’?”

“They were caught supporting a specific group.”

“Oh, dear.”

When it came to ‘specific groups,’ there were a few that came to mind, and a couple of them were actually causing serious image damage to companies by running rampant online.

“It’s more serious than you think. There’s even a boycott going on.”

“The problem is that the guys who get ads from big companies aren’t just acquaintances. There’s a network, and they give and take ads through that network in this industry.”

“Of course, we can’t trust them anymore.”

“I understand what you mean.”

A public relations company that should be promoting the company’s image was instead tarnishing it. This was a serious problem. No matter how well you knew someone, it was absolutely unforgivable.

“Then, shouldn’t you just hire another company?”

“As you can see from this boycott, the image has already been severely damaged. It’s not a situation where we can just do some advertising and be done with it.”

“If that were the case, it would be easier, because we could solve it with money. But the target of the boycott just sees it as mockery, no matter how much money you spend on advertising.”

“It’s no secret that some companies have been cursed for years and haven’t been able to get out of the red.”

“A company that once made hundreds of billions of won in profit turned completely into a loss after the boycott, and the boycott has been going on for more than five years.”

“Other public relations companies suggest spending time on public relations to improve the image.”

“That’s nonsense.”

“If that were easily possible, there would be no point in a boycott in the first place.”

“Once you become the target of a boycott, everything looks bad.”

“Advertising? It’s just an act of deceiving consumers. Good deeds? It’s wearing a mask. Events? It’s getting rid of inventory.”

“No matter what you do, people look at the problem with tinted glasses, so once you become disliked, it’s almost impossible to turn that image around.”

“There’s no suitable company.”

“He contacted many places. He asked many advertising companies for ideas, and if there was an idea he liked, he said he would actively use it. Of course, it would cost money in the process, but that’s better.”

“I guess the image is too bad.”

“Nothing works.”

Bae Deokgi shook his head.

“Then I thought of you. I heard you know a bit about group psychology?”

“I do.”

“How is it possible?”

“Well?”

Park Dojoon stroked his chin at the words.

“I need to see the situation first. Where is that company?”

“It’s Edian.”

“Edian? Isn’t that a cosmetics company?”

“I guess you don’t know much about it. Well, we tried to erase our Hyunsung image as much as possible. Hyunsung has a strong image of heavy chemical industry, right?”

“It did. Ugh, that’s a huge problem.”

“He didn’t know that Edian was an affiliate of Hyunsung. In fact, there are many cases where the headquarters is hidden due to image problems.”

“In the case of Hyunsung, the image of heavy industry and steel is strong, but there is no image of making delicate cosmetics well.”

“In that case, if you launch delicate products, it starts from a negative point because of the company’s name value.”

“The method often used in such cases is branding. The same goes for Edian. Edian was one of Hyunsung’s many affiliates, but when people think of Edian, they think of a mid-sized cosmetics company.”

“But isn’t that the place that was on TV for the wrong reasons?”

“That’s right. Ha.”

“Why the hell did they do that?”

“Image is important for advertising, but I don’t know what they were thinking when they advertised Edian, but they put the Rising Sun Flag [the flag of Imperial Japan, now considered offensive in many East Asian countries] in the image.”

“They’re advertising in Korea, not another country, and they’re subtly putting in the Rising Sun Flag?”

“Of course, they changed the color, changed the angle, and did all sorts of things, but anyone could see that it was the Rising Sun Flag.”

“Until then, I thought there was a crazy person.”

“It’s a personal problem if a crazy employee secretly puts in the Rising Sun Flag, but the public discovered this, and the ad had to be replaced twice.”

“Why twice? Because both times, the Rising Sun Flag was hidden very secretly in a different place. Since people were already paying attention, someone deliberately searched for the image, so no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t hide the Rising Sun Flag, which they secretly changed places twice.”

“The problem is that even the apology letter had the Rising Sun Flag hidden very subtly.”

“The structure was such that connecting the dots in the background would draw the Rising Sun Flag. That was shocking, but what’s even funnier is that the president of Edian didn’t reflect at all, but instead threatened to sue the netizens who mentioned this issue for spreading false information.”

“You’re telling me to solve *that*?”

“Because it will become a brand that has to be abandoned as it is.”

“Crazy bastard.”

“Thousands of employees working at Edian are about to lose their jobs because of one crazy bastard.”

“I was wondering why you suddenly called me and asked me to do profiling urgently.”

“In fact, there is a review system within the company, but there was a reason why he bothered to call Park Dojoon to get a verification, not just a verification.”

“You think the internal system is unstable.”

“Yes, that’s right. In the first place, the president of Edian was also appointed with full support. He seemed capable.”

“But he didn’t do a proper inspection or management, and in the end, he dropped a nuclear bomb. The Rising Sun Flag alone is enough to make my head hurt, but then he threatened to sue the people.”

“Can I see his records?”

“Wait a moment.”

Bae Deokgi picked up the intercom and made a call, and after a while, his secretary brought a file. Park Dojoon, who received it and read it, could only click his tongue.

“He’s an extremely poor empathizer.”

“There was some evaluation like that.”

“He must have had a pro-Japanese tendency. Is he a Japan expert?”

“How did you know? He was originally a student at Waseda University in Japan, and he also worked in Japan for a long time.”

“His standard of judgment is himself.”

“He thought that it wouldn’t be a big problem to include the Rising Sun Flag, so he made the problem this big. If he had known the feelings of ordinary Koreans, he would have tried to cut it off in advance.”

“Also, looking at him mentioning lawsuits and accusations, it seems like he has never done business targeting the general public. Most of his achievements must be with companies.”

“That’s true.”

“That’s the problem.”

“Hyunsung Group is always the boss when it comes to companies, and the president is the one who knows and learned that better than anyone else.”

“In that situation, he attacked and reacted like this.”

Park Dojoon slammed the document shut and said.

“I recommend conducting an audit of the company’s contracts, not just a simple dismissal.”

“Huh? Why?”

“The legal team wouldn’t sue the public, would they?”

“Accusation of spreading false information? As long as the Rising Sun Flag is actually embedded, you can’t accuse it. You can’t say there isn’t a Rising Sun Flag when there is one, can you? There’s no way the guys who have done all sorts of lawsuits would think that way.”

“If it were the legal team or within the organization, they would have settled the lawsuit secretly against those who crossed the line.”

“I guess so.”

“But announcing that you’re going to sue? And the CEO is doing it? This means that he recognizes the attack on the company as an attack on himself.”

“He probably made the announcement independently without consulting the legal team.”