Value of brand name “Ewha”
It is easy to spot students on campus wearing jumpers, carrying pencil cases or bottles with a Ewha logo. These products are merchandise available at the souvenir shop on campus, in the Ewha Campus Complex. Ewha being a famous tourist attraction, visitors stop by the souvenir shop as well to purchase them. Postcards, notebooks, Ewha jumpers and T-shirts are especially popular among foreign tourists.
“I think the popularity comes from a variety of goods that reflects the trends such as tumblers and postcards,” said Kim Won-hee, the manager at gift shop of Ewha Welcome Center. “For this reason, many Ewha students purchase items here, too.”
Aside from the logo, the name “Ewha” itself is a brand now. The value of a brand lies in stories the brand contains and the authenticity of the stories. For Ewha, the story it contains has a common ground between Ewha students and interested people.
“The common grounds probably include the efforts to make a stand and lead the humanization movement for Korean women who were in slave-like conditions, and to go beyond humanization to open prospects for female leadership to create a pioneer woman image in areas where men are in the lead,” said professor Yoon Jeong-koo (Business Administration).
However, as the value of brand Ewha rose due to the intrinsic value Ewha represents, cases of arbitrary usage of “Ewha” as a brand name by enterprises and organizations occurred occasionally. Recently, Ewha Hak-tang filed a lawsuit against a production company Ewhamedia in 2010 to suspend the usage of “Ewha” as a company name. In May, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Ewha Hak-tang, that Ewhamedia violated the Unfair Competition Prevention Act by provoking confusion among clients that Ewhamedia is a school-related company.
Even though society has changed over time and the condition of Korean women is not as extreme as it has been in the past, the spirit and brand Ewha represents is still valuable. Thus, “Ewha” as a brand has a future growth potential. In order to maintain the value of unique identity, Ewha needs to consistently keep up with and reflect new trends.