KOREANS JOIN WORLD'S BIGGEST COMMERCIAL

By Oh-Sin Kwon, Rotary Public Image Coordinator for Zone 9, 10A Korea

I was shocked, and a little ashamed, to learn in early December that only a handful of Korean Rotarians had taken part in the efforts to make The World’s Biggest Commercial. South Korea, home to more than 60,000 Rotarians, is a strong Rotary country and has contributed more than US$10 million annually to The Rotary Foundation in the last three years.I knew I had to take steps immediately to reverse this situation. I share some of these here in the hope of inspiring other Rotarians to get involved, and get others involved, in this important campaign. (click below to read more)

I started by implement a strategy of “Think locally, Act locally” to involve the club presidents and club officers in my home town, Pohang, a small city where there are 34 Rotary clubs and more than 1,900 members. I have had a series of strategic meetings with all 34 club secretaries, and they all agreed to promote the commercial and participation in the campaign during their regular meetings.

I provided the club presidents and secretaries with instructions that were as simple as possible for how they could help their club members to upload images with their thumb and forefinger raised in the “This Close” gesture for the World’s Biggest Commercial.

Our goal is to have every club in all 17 districts in Korea promote the commercial during their regular meetings. The Rotary Korea magazine has launched an advertising campaign to encourage all clubs to do this.

I have been reaching out to Rotary clubs, Rotaract clubs, and Interact clubs in District 3630, which has more than 6,000 members. It is a practical and feasible goal for us to recruit at least 1,000 members for participation in the commercial. And we are extending our efforts to recruit more participants nationwide.

Have the efforts been worth it? Through May, there are 1,852 participants from South Korea in the commercial, ranking fifth in participating countries.

Oh-Sin Kwon is the current publisher of The Rotary Korea Magazine.