Saturday, January 07, 2006

Red Devil's Inc.

I know this story is a few days old, but there is a missed angle. Many bloggers have commented on the new t-shirts of the Red Devils Korea's soccer supporter. I hope the new slogan "Red go together" will give a more focused branding effort to the Korean soccer team than the fiasco in 2002. That year KTF paid a bit of money to have the official slogan off the team be "Korea Team Fighting" (get it KTF, "If it does not fit, Konglish It!"). KTF however was usurped by the Red's with their "Be The Reds" slogan. Enough history, what I found interesting was this line:

the old T-shirt for which the club was unable to get copyright, making billions for makers of knock-off brands. The new shirts are copyrighted and will be exclusively sold through the casual clothing brand Basic House. 

“In 2002 there was a flood of knock-off brands, and manufacturers unrelated to the world of football made lots of money, but the situation won’t be the same this year,” said Red Devils manager Kim Jung-yun

This is about the funnies bit of pollyanna thinking I have heard in a while. As if people who make counterfeit clothing in Korea are really going to say "Oh can't print those, there's a trademark". Mr. Kim apparently has never strolled Namdaemun market, or even any shopping area in Korea.

The other point, the Reds are becoming a business now. A non-profit one, but a business none the less. I wonder if there will be any oversight on how well it follows its promise to donate money to sporting programs.

posted by Dram Man @ 2:31 PM

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