HiteJinro Targets Southeast Asia with Sponsorship of Suzuki Cup Soccer Tournament

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] HiteJinro announced on the 22nd that it participated as an official sponsor of the 2020 AFF Suzuki Cup football tournament. The Suzuki Cup is the largest football tournament in Southeast Asia held every two years, and due to COVID-19, the schedule was postponed and the event was held this year in Singapore. The tournament will continue until January 1st of next year.

The Suzuki Cup football tournament features participation from 10 Southeast Asian countries including Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos, and Timor-Leste. HiteJinro exports soju to 9 of the 10 participating countries, excluding Timor-Leste. Through official sponsorship of popular local sports events, the company aims to accelerate its targeting of local consumers in Southeast Asia.

HiteJinro operates not only stadium board advertisements for brand exposure but also social media (SNS) events that consumers can directly participate in, as well as event booths at the stadium.

Since declaring the globalization of soju in 2016, HiteJinro’s export performance to Southeast Asia has increased every year. From 2017 to 2020, exports to 9 Southeast Asian countries grew at an average annual rate of about 29%. Singapore and Malaysia showed high growth rates of 62% and 55% annually, respectively.

HiteJinro stated that despite the global difficulties caused by COVID-19 this year, it expects growth of about 23% compared to the previous year.

Jung-ho Hwang, Executive Director of HiteJinro’s Overseas Business Division, said, “We will continue to carry out various local marketing activities and strive to have the value of soju, Korea’s representative alcoholic beverage, recognized by local people.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.