Gyeonggi Province Hosts "Opening Change and Opportunity Through Brand" Forum at Suwon Convention Center

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] The inaugural Gyeonggi Province Brand Forum, where citizens and provincial officials discuss the past, present, and future of the Gyeonggi brand, will be held on December 17 at 1 p.m. in the Convention Hall on the 3rd floor of Suwon Convention Center.

This forum will be held under the theme "Opening Change and Opportunity Through Brand."

Based on the eighth-term provincial brand initiative "Gyeonggi, the Center of Change and a Land of Opportunity," the forum will unfold in two parts: Part 1 "Change" session and Part 2 "Opportunity" session.

Part 1 Change session will begin with a keynote address by Lee Jong-don, Gyeonggi Province's Director of Public Relations and Planning, on "The Values of Eighth-Term Provincial Administration and Vision of the Gyeonggi Brand." This will be followed by an expert lecture by Jo Seung-yeon, a YouTuber with 1.48 million subscribers of "Jo Seung-yeon's Inquiry into Life" and a humanities writer, on "Regional Branding Methods for Places People Want to Live and Stay."

Additionally, Gwangmyeong City, representing Gyeonggi's cities and counties (Park Jong-yeon, official at Urban Planning Division), will present on excellent city branding cases under the theme "Shining Brightly: A New City Image of Gwangmyeong," and Gyeonggi Tourism Organization (Jang Hye-jin, Team Manager of Domestic Business Division) will present on provincial branding excellence cases related to "Gyeonggi Dulle-gil Connecting Gyeonggi Province and Its Citizens."

In Part 2 Opportunity session, Professor Yu Hong-jun, author of "My Cultural Heritage Exploration" and Distinguished Chair Professor at Myongji University who previously served as Cultural Heritage Administrator, will deliver an expert lecture on "Potential of Gyeonggi Province and Youth Opportunity Branding."

Following this, Jeong Ji-hui, a Gyeonggi Province youth venture entrepreneur, will present on "Innovative Startup Branding in Gyeonggi Province, Opportunities and Future Vision," and Song Yun-joo, a Gyeonggi Province social entrepreneur, will present on "Social Enterprise Branding and Opportunity in Gyeonggi Province."

An awards ceremony will also be held for winning entries from the Gyeonggi citizen contest held for one month starting October 25 under the theme "Living as a Gyeonggi Citizen, You and I, Gyeonggi."

There are 12 winning entries in total in the writing and visual art categories, and two outstanding award winners will present their work as representatives of citizens during the Opportunity session.

This forum, where citizens, city and county officials, and experts participate to communicate through branding, will also operate diverse side events.

Various activities will be offered including ▲Brand Exhibition Hall where visitors can discover brands from all 31 Gyeonggi cities and counties, ▲Personal Color Diagnosis to find your own brand, ▲Making a Gyeonggi Citizen Certificate and ▲Coloring activities featuring the provincial brand character "Bonggongi."

Citizens wishing to participate in the forum can pre-register through the official Gyeonggi Brand Forum website (www.ggdbrand.com), and anyone is also welcome to participate on-site. Various events, including comment participation through live streaming on the Gyeonggi Province YouTube channel on the day of the forum, have been prepared.

Meanwhile, the province will also hold an event distributing emoticons of "Bonggongi," the character of the provincial government slogan, for free to promote the Gyeonggi brand.

The plan is to distribute 16 types of animated emoticons featuring the character "Bonggongi," including witty phrases that can be cleverly used during the Christmas and year-end season.

Anyone who newly subscribes to the Gyeonggi Province KakaoTalk channel can receive emoticons for free.

Even existing subscribers can receive emoticons if they unblock the channel and add it again.

Starting at 2 p.m. on December 12, emoticons will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis to a total of 100,000 people, and can be used for 30 days after receipt.

Lee Jong-don, Gyeonggi Province's Director of Public Relations and Planning, said, "A brand that finds its value and draws strength from 13.9 million Gyeonggi citizens is a truly meaningful Gyeonggi brand," and "I urge citizens to show great interest and participation in this forum to create tomorrow's Gyeonggi brand that connects yesterday and today."