[Heavy Industry ON] From Posco to LX... Fitting Heavy-Duty "Technology" with an "Emotional Engine"

Traditional Manufacturers Changing Their Tone with Emotional Content
Survival Strategies of Heavy Industries Revealed in Advertising
How Traditional Industries Reach Out with Wit and Storytelling

On a hill overlooking the city, two excavators wearing a veil and a bow tie stand side by side. Above them, the phrase "We Got Married" appears. It looks like a scene from an entertainment show, but it is actually an advertisement created to promote "HD Construction Equipment," which was launched through the merger of HD Hyundai Construction Equipment and HD Hyundai Infracore, the No. 1 and No. 2 construction equipment companies in Korea. The companies personified their excavators as a groom and a bride holding a wedding ceremony to deliver the merger news, and this video surpassed 100 million views in about three weeks after it was released. The starting point of this advertisement was a proposal from an in-house employee born in 1997.

HD Construction Equipment advertisement. HD Construction Equipment Instagram

The reason this scene is drawing attention is not only because the advertisement is "fun." It symbolically shows why traditional manufacturing companies, which have long carried a fixed image of being conservative and hierarchical, have begun to speak in such a dramatically different language.

Companies in so-called heavy and large-scale industries such as shipbuilding, steel, refining, and chemicals have, in recent years, been competing to produce emotional content to shed their heavy and rigid images. Instead of relying on traditional indicators such as technological prowess or performance, they are promoting their companies through advertisements that emphasize stories and emotions. On the surface, it may look like an image-improvement strategy, but beneath it lies a much more practical sense of crisis.

Traditional manufacturing companies feel they are structurally disadvantaged in the competition for talent against emerging IT and platform companies. In a situation where it has become difficult to attract top talent with salary or stability alone, the perception of being a "stuffy and rigid organization" becomes a critical weakness in the job market. The judgment that they must first change their corporate culture and communication style to be chosen by young talent is what is leading them to emotional content.

LX Group deliberately used the wordplay "El-eksseumnida" in its advertisement to playfully present the businesses of its affiliates, such as semiconductor materials, logistics, and construction materials. LX Group ad screenshot

In the HD Construction Equipment advertisement, what stands out more than the number of views is the fact that a young employee's idea was actually turned into an advertisement. This can be interpreted as a sign that what is changing is not just marketing events, but the internal decision-making structure and the flow of authority within the organization. The targets to whom companies are speaking in an emotional language are consumers, but at the same time job seekers and future members of the organization. They are indirectly conveying the message, "We are flexible, fun, and ready to listen to your ideas."

Mr. A of HD Construction Equipment, who came up with the idea, said, "I feel a great sense of fulfillment because it seems that our genuine intention to strip away the heavy and rigid image of heavy and large-scale industries has resonated with the public. In particular, since this unconventional attempt, which broke away from our existing promotional methods, has led to better-than-expected results, we will continue to pursue communication that can showcase the changed face of HD Construction Equipment without being bound by stereotypes."

Real-life Darius axe from the game made of high-manganese steel. Screenshot from LCK YouTube.

This change is not limited to securing talent. The way technology itself is communicated is changing. Last year, Posco became an official sponsor of the LCK, the Korean professional league of the popular game "League of Legends," and displayed a real-life version of a game character's weapon made from its own high-manganese steel. Hyundai Steel collaborated with idol group aespa to film the music video for their new song at its Dangjin Steelworks in South Chungcheong Province, and LX Group used an advertisement titled "Eleksseumnida" to wittily present its affiliates' businesses in semiconductor materials, logistics, and building materials.

What these cases have in common is that they do not "explain" the technology head-on. Rather than logically unpacking the physical properties of high-manganese steel, the processes of semiconductor materials, or the structure of logistics systems, they sensorially translate technology through familiar devices such as games, idols, and stories. Highly sophisticated industrial technologies are difficult for ordinary consumers to intuitively understand. Companies are now choosing a method that makes people "feel" the excellence of their technology, rather than trying to convince them of it through explanation.

aespa filmed 'Dirty Work' at Hyundai Steel's Dangjin Steelworks. Still from aespa's music video.

An interesting point is that the business essence of the companies choosing these light formats remains, or is even becoming, heavier. LNG carriers, semiconductor materials, steel, and energy are sectors directly linked to national industrial competitiveness. What companies are changing is not the weight of the technology, but the way they communicate it. They are keeping the core of the industry intact while updating only the language used to deliver it to fit the times.

The advertisement in which Samyang Group features actor Park Jungmin to explain its "specialty" materials is in the same vein. While unpacking its complex business structure of food, chemicals, and pharmaceutical bio in a way that matches the public's level of understanding, it clearly maintained its identity as a high value-added technology company. Emotional content is not a device that dilutes the essence of technology; it is becoming a tool that translates it into a language people can understand.

A wedding of excavators, a steel mill featuring idols, and steel materials reborn as weapons from a game. On the surface, these scenes look light and cheerful, but behind them lies the fierce survival strategy of traditional manufacturing companies. To attract talent, to help people understand their technology, and to communicate with society in the language of a changed era, these companies are explaining themselves anew. The solution chosen by companies that deal with heavy technologies was not to make the technology less heavy, but to translate it into words that more people can understand.

Lee Eunhee, a professor in the Department of Consumer Science at Inha University, said, "In any industry, the key is sustainability. It is important to have a structure in which talented people with outstanding capabilities and mindsets continue to flow in," adding, "For today's younger generation, money is no longer the only criterion for choice." She continued, "The key is to accurately target the decision points that they consider important and thereby attract competent talent," and analyzed, "To do this, it has become an era in which a positive image of the company itself is essential."

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