HSAD, Korea Tourism Organization team up for generative AI marketing push

HSAD, the advertising affiliate of LG Group, has joined forces with the Korea Tourism Organization to advance tourism marketing for the generative AI era. The partnership will introduce GEO — Generative Engine Optimization — to the domestic tourism sector, moving beyond conventional portal-based digital marketing to optimize brand content for citation in AI-generated responses.

HSAD announced Thursday that it had signed an MOU with the Korea Tourism Organization for "GEO-based AI marketing." The agreement marks the first case in which a GEO solution has been applied not merely as a demonstration but carried through to actual execution in a tourism marketing project.

GEO structures information and content so generative AI can readily understand a brand and draw on it when formulating responses. Unlike conventional search engine optimization, which targets high placement in search results, GEO focuses on increasing the likelihood that AI will cite a brand as a trustworthy source.

The two organizations plan to apply GEO-based AI marketing sequentially to 10 global festivals nurtured by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Tourism Organization. The first application will be the Incheon Pentaport Rock Festival, where ChatGPT advertising — now available in South Korea — will also be deployed to broaden the reach and raise awareness of festival information.

ChatGPT advertising surfaces relevant ads based on a user's conversational context and interests. Combined with a GEO-driven content strategy, the approach is expected to deliver tourism promotional results optimized for the generative AI environment.

The MOU builds on a GEO solution package and methodology that HSAD has been developing in-house since last year. The approach analyzes the questions and interests users bring to generative AI about Korean tourism, then produces content designed to earn tourist trust across multiple media touchpoints and distributes it effectively. Rather than simply identifying high-volume search keywords, it examines in detail what consumers are curious about in specific situations and what kinds of answers they are looking for.

HSAD also uses a proprietary GEO scoring dashboard that quantifies how often a brand is mentioned and cited across major generative AI platforms, enabling ongoing performance management. While existing GEO services have focused mainly on AI exposure analysis, HSAD positions its offering as an end-to-end solution covering customer query analysis, content production, channel distribution and performance measurement within a single integrated package.

As generative AI establishes itself as a primary channel for information discovery, companies and public institutions are expected to shift their digital marketing rapidly from search optimization to AI-response optimization. The collaboration is seen as a potential benchmark for the broader spread of AI-based marketing, as it represents the first full-scale application of GEO in the domestic tourism sector.

"Boosting a brand's discoverability and its competitiveness as a cited source — through content strategies and channel-specific execution aimed at AI responses — is critical," an HSAD official said. "We will build an AI marketing model through an integrated GEO solution that covers everything from customer query analysis and content production to distribution and performance measurement, drawing on the GEO diagnostic agents and dashboards we have developed."