In 2015, the movie “Northern Limit Line” which based on the naval battle of South and North Korea occurred in 2002 was premiered (Los Angeles Times, 2016). This movie made a significant contribution to improve the image of the R.O.K Navy. Brand Placement (BPL) was used to promote the R.O.K Navy in this movie (Karrh, 1994; Van Reijmersdal, Neijens & Smit, 2007).
The R.O.K. Navy is trying to build powerful naval forces with the slogan called “The Ocean Navy”. It is essential to acquire the elite military forces who can help the Korean Navy to accomplish its strategic goal and heighten the competitiveness. The acquired elite military forces are expected to demonstrate their own ability while they serve the R.O.K. Navy. They will have positive influences to the local communities as the supporters of the R.O.K. Navy after they are discharged.
This research analyzed BPL effect in terms the recruitment of workforce. This research identified the relationship among BPL, organization image, organization reputation, employment brand equity and intention to pursue job opportunity in R.O.K Navy. In previous researches, the effect of image can be applied to corporate brands, product, individual brands, geographical areas, events and people (Balmer, 1997). The image of organization can remind people of the particular organization (Cable & Yu, 2006). The reputation is a dynamic interaction construct with the image, and defined as a subjective judgment based on the reliability and integrity about the organization in long term (Clardy, 2012). Employment brand equity is defined as outcome of applicant’s decision choices attributable to job seeker’s beliefs about the organization as employer(Han & Collins, 2002). Marketing literatures on employment brand equity can be useful in helping to understand how job seeker develops beliefs about organization as employer. Although many researches studied BPL, organization image and reputation, employment brand equity, etc., little researches have been conducted to integrate the variables mentioned above in public sector such as the military forces.
Samples of this research consist of people who watched the movie called “Northern Limit Line”. SPSS and AMOS package programs are employed to analyze the data. Marketing strategy for a public sector such as Korean Navy based upon the results of the findings from this study is expected to position Korean Navy as more efficient and effective organization to recruit better quality human resources.