LG Electronics unveils brand heritage film at Times Square in New York

LG Electronics announced Monday that it has unveiled a newly produced brand heritage film on an outdoor billboard at Times Square in New York.

The film, titled "Life Asks, LG Answers," was created to share LG Electronics' home appliance goal of achieving a "Zero Labor Home" with customers around the world.

It traces the company's journey of home appliance innovation — solving everyday inconveniences for customers — and lays out a future vision of expanding into physical AI areas such as AI Home and home robots.

The film highlights LG Electronics' technological progress through its washing machines and refrigerators. On the laundry side, it traces the arc from the WP-181 "Baekjo" — South Korea's first washing machine, launched in 1969 — through to the LG TWINWash and LG WashTower. For refrigeration, it charts a similar journey from the GR-120 "Numpyo" of 1965 to innovations such as Magic Space, which lets users access frequently used items without opening the full door, and Knock-On, which allows users to check the interior by tapping the door.

The film also covers the core component technologies that underpinned those product advances. LG Electronics' motor technology, which began with the development of an electric fan motor in 1962, has evolved into the Inverter Direct Drive motor — which connects the drum directly to the motor — and the AI DD motor, which detects laundry characteristics to optimize washing motion. More recently, the company drew on the motor and control technologies accumulated in home appliances to develop LG AXIUM, an actuator that serves as the joint of a robot.

The film closes with LG Electronics' accumulated robotics technology and its vision for physical AI. The company has built related capabilities since it developed South Korea's first educational robot in 1983, followed by a cleaning robot in 2003 and the LG CLOi service robot — capable of guidance, delivery and serving — in 2018.

This year, LG Electronics unveiled the home robot LG CLOiD, presenting a vision of an AI Home orchestrated by a home robot. The company plans to gradually bring the Zero Labor Home to life by expanding from home appliance innovation into AI Home and home robots.

Starting with Times Square, LG Electronics plans to screen the film on the billboard at Piccadilly Circus in London and on major OTT platforms. The film runs 160 seconds in total and will also be shown in a 30-second edited version depending on the medium.

"We will continue to share LG Electronics' heritage of innovation for a better life — and our vision for the future — with customers around the world, and to deliver differentiated brand value," said Ryu Ju-hyun, head of HS marketing communications at LG Electronics.