The coffee brand bets big on its coffee store exposure to be made as one of the main settings in the drama; one of the main actors play as a barista bolstering the brand's recognition targeting the drama audience.

SEOUL, Korea, Aug 18 (Whowired) — Product placement (PPL), or embedded marketing is all the rage among Korean businesses of late. Following news that LG Electronics has enjoyed great success in the PPL approach featuring its Optimus Vu smartphone in a popular soap opera "Gentleman's Dignity" on SBS TV, a home-grown coffee franchise brand Ediya Coffee (pronounced as ee-DIE-ah) announced it will officially sponsor the production of a daily sitcom "Dakchigo Family" (Dakchigo means "shut up" in korean) which will be broadcast on KBS 2TV.

The coffee brand bets big on its coffee store exposure to be made as one of the main settings in the drama; one of the main actors play as a barista bolstering the brand's recognition targeting the drama audience. "Getting much intimate with the TV viewers or potential consumers is key to waging this embedded marketing campaign." said an official with Ediya. "Moreover, by portraying a coffee store as a place  where different generations can mingle with each other and communicate to address their own issues, we expects the coffee store to serve as a positively cultural point to re

Ediya, a home-grown coffee house which ranks No. 2 by the number of its branded stores across the nation, has set to expand its business both in local and overseas market. Last month, it celebrated the 700th branded store in the nation and it is planning to re-enter China's coffee market betting shift in taste among surging Chinese middle-class consumers. The company entered China four years ago but failed to establish its presence in the market mainly because it wasn't fully prepared for China's distinct taste.

Ediya is competing with international coffee powerhouses like Starbucks, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Pascucci, Tom 7 Tom's Coffee as well as emerging home-grown brands like Cafe Bene and Twosome Place. The Korea Consumer Agency released research data early this month on  the amounts of different ingredients in coffee served in Korea and Ediya Coffee had the least amount of caffeine in americano ― 91 milligrams ― compared to the 196 milligrams in Pascucci’s serving.

Sam Kim (press@whowired.com)