LG is a strong brand. Life’s good, isn’t it? They build high-quality gadgets, mobile phones and white goods. LG is all slick websites and vast 3D TVs, viral and vital ads and green tech. Aren’t they?

Well…they are today, but it doesn’t take a degree in ancient history to see that LG was once a company synonymous with Korean toothpaste and its original name “Lucky-Goldstar” sounded, in the words of one branding expert, “like a poorly-translated warning label on Asian detergent.” In reality, of course, it was one of Korea’s biggest and globally expanding conglomerates, but it’s brand identity was poor.

Lucky-Goldstar rebooted as LG, turning it into an almost peerless global brand: “Life’s good”. It’s simple, it’s emotive, it makes you smile, it even sounds a bit, ahem, “Western”. “Put simply, says Bilal Mustafa Khan of the Department of Business Administration, at Aligarh Muslim University, Uttar Pradesh, India, “the company ditched all the negative stereotypes of Asian electronics (cheap, generic, poorly-made, unlike Japanese reputation), and replaced them with all the good ones (well-designed, compact, simple, like the Japanese reputation).”

“Corporate identity is affected by the company history, its mission, its philosophy, core values and its culture, which in turn determines the brand platform and positioning,” explains Khan. There are four main reasons that led to the new brand identity:

• The old name Lucky Goldstar had associations that had become extremely damaging and limiting, such as perceived low quality and discounted products.
• The old name did not fit in with the new vision as a global brand.
• The old name was too long, making it difficult to create a global brand image.
• The old name did not express the product-class range.

LG’s ethos is one of innovation, openness and partnership and its strengths today lie in technology, design and marketing. “Western companies with a long history and experiences usually have very clear vision, mission, philosophy and a supportive corporate culture with excellent communication systems in place,” says Khan. The likes of Virgin, Sony, Coca Cola, Apple and others know this all too well and have unique and strong identities across the globe. “Some Asian companies such as Qatar Airways, Emirates, Reliance, Hyundai and Samsung recognise the important role of corporate brand building” he adds.

The rebooting of LG serves as something of a benchmark against which those and new, emerging Asian companies can be measured.

Khan, B. (2011). Reinventing the LG brand: a manifesto for corporate brand management J. for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development, 5 (3) DOI: 10.1504/JIBED.2011.038030