Hello. This is POSEOKHO, your friendly neighborhood POSCO cutie! It’s been a long time, but I really wanted to give you the news—POSCO won the Grand Award in the social media category at the 2022–2023 Mercury Awards*!
*Mercury Awards: An international award for corporate communication activities hosted by Mercomm in the US. It is one of the three awards that evaluate public bodies and corporations’ promotional activities, along with the ASTRID Awards and the Annual Reports Competition (ARC).
The Grand Award Winner prize that POSCO won is given to the best across different categories from the top prize winners in the Mercury Awards, and I was thrilled that my Instagram activities were recognized on the international stage. Above all, the take away is that a Korean company won the Grand Award for the first time ever in the social media category.
▲From the left: Video for Green Tomorrow, POSCO’s carbon-neutral digital YouTube campaign, and POSEOKHO’s appearance on Park1538’s public relations Metaverse platform Zepeto content.
I joined as a new member of the POSCO New Media Group in October of 2021. I was active on Instagram and our YouTube channel, talking to PODONGI(*our subscribers) for the past three years, communicating with the younger generations who are taking their first steps into independent adulthood, and explaining the ins and outs of POSCO’s eco-friendly business in engaging, entertaining ways. I think all PODONGI know (don’t you?) that I made an appearance early last year in Green Tomorrow with film director Jang Hang-jun, and I think the broad range of my activities resonated with the judges!
When the award was announced, I was reminded of all those rewarding days I spent showcasing anecdotes from my time at POSCO! I’m especially active in communicating with the young generation, sharing empathetic memes about the workplace and social life, and sending messages to brighten your day. I’ve also thought a lot about ways to help you easily understand hydrogen reduction steelworks technology and future materials while showing POSCO’s environmentally friendly and sustainable corporate image. I’ll never forget the times spent spreading a friendly corporate image through vlogs of POSEOKHO’s everyday life, a music video about the year’s-start hiring, and outdoor ads promoting the Pohang Space Walk and the warm reaction from PODONGI for our serial, Podangtangtang POSEOKHO!
▲Vlogs of Po Seokho’s everyday life, the music video about the year’s-start hiring, and the Pohang Space Walk promotional video
Your friendly neighborhood SEOKHO is still a fresh-faced hire, but Ryan from KAKAO, the company next door, was promoted to Director just one year after joining and won first place three years in a row in surveys of Koreans’ most beloved characters. He’s also made strides into the Chinese market through a licensing venture with Alifish*, a subsidiary of Alibaba, China’s largest online commerce company. To think he’s active in China, where KAKAOTalk is banned… could I be a character beloved overseas, as well as in Korea, one day and promote POSCO wherever I go?
*Alifish: A subsidiary of Alibaba in China that oversees the IP business.
I have plans to see you more, not only on Instagram but through online and offline events and various digital campaigns. Oh! We will also create environmentally friendly goods that PODONGI will love, so please stay tuned! I’m asking for all your continued love and support for SEOKHO♡