Samsung’s fiftieth anniversary, showed two children gazing up at a picture
of the solar system. The planets had been replaced with images of a
personal computer, a semiconductor, a DNA double helix, and an orbiting
satellite.
“Fifty years with our minjok,” the ad declared, using the patriotic word
for the Korean race.
Samsung’s success wasn’t about sales, operations, economic policies,
and bottom lines. It was a story of patriotism and spirit. Samsung tapped
into the feelings, emotion, and sense of belonging that South Koreans
experienced. It understood the human need to be a part of something great,
something bigger than oneself; it offered Koreans the promise of glory.
In the ad, Samsung declared its mission: “To become a leading
corporation to the age of humanity.”