Hana Financial scores big with Son Heung-min sports marketing

South Korea’s national soccer team, led by captain Son Heung-min, lost to Brazil 1-5 in a pre-World Cup friendly on Thursday, much to 65,000 Korean soccer fans’ chagrin at Seoul World Cup Stadium.

However, Hana Financial Group emerged victorious, scoring big from sponsoring the Tottenham Hotspur forward as its brand ambassador.

The friendly match, organized by KEB Hana Bank, a unit of Hana Financial, Korea’s third-largest banking group, offered Koreans not just a rare opportunity to watch Son, Brazil’s Neymar and other globally famous players on their home turf but also a business opportunity to make money.

The bank sold tickets through its newly launched mobile banking app, Hana 1Q, which unsurprisingly drew hundreds of thousands of people eager to watch the match at the stadium.

Hana Bank saw the number of the app’s daily active users increase by more than 100,000, and daily app downloading and new subscriptions rise fivefold during the ticket sale period.


Encouraged by the success, the bank also plans to sell tickets for other sports events such as golf tournaments and cultural performances via the Hana 1Q app to turn the app’s subscribers into potential customers of its banking services.

SUCCESSFUL SPORTS MARKETING

At Thursday’s match, Korean team captain Son was held off the score sheet. Still, he left many of his Korean fans in awe by the dazzling display of his skills.

To Hana Bank, he’s already proven his worth as its brand ambassador by winning the Premier League's Golden Boot for Tottenham Hotspur, jointly with Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah, in May.

Son’s relationship with Hana Bank goes back to 2018 when Hana Financial Group Chairman Ham Young-joo, then Hana Bank chief executive, picked him as the bank’s brand ambassador as part of its sports marketing campaign.

Hana Financial Group has been the official sponsor of Korea’s national soccer squad since 1998. It is also the title sponsor of the K League and the FA Cup.

In 2020, it became the owner of K League 2 club Daejeon Hana Citizen, which is drawing the largest number of spectators among the second-tier Korean soccer club members.

Hana Bank’s economic effects or gains from sports marketing last year were estimated at 196.9 billion won ($136 million), according to industry officials.

Soccer isn’t the only sport with which the banking group fell in love.

Hana Financial also sponsors promising Korean players in golf, basketball and tennis.

Last month, Park Eun-shin of Hana Financial tasted the joy of winning his first championship, 13 years after his debut in the Korea Professional Golf Association (KPGA).

The banking group has also been running the Hana 1Q women’s basketball team since 2021.

Write to In-Hyeok Lee at twopeople@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.