The Roots of the LG Brand, “Lucky” and “Goldstar”

The LG brand in operation today stemmed from Lucky Chemical Co., Ltd. established in 1947. After a huge success of “Lucky Cream”, the first Korean make-up cream, Chairman In-hwoi Koo named his company “lucky”, which sounds similar to the word “Lak Hui” and has the meaning of giving joy to all. In this way, LG's first hit product brand became the company’s name.

This "Lucky" brand became a representative brand of Lak Hui Chemical's products such as “Lucky toothpaste”, and became a bridgehead for Lucky Chemical Co., Ltd. to grow into a leading chemical company. In 1974, Lak Hui Chemical changed its name to Lucky Co., Ltd..

Goldstar, founded in 1958, also played a huge role in LG history. As the first electronic company in Korea, Goldstar developed many of the first electronic products in Korea. Lak Hui and Goldstar quickly grew into leading companies in the chemical and electronics industries in Korea.

The Lucky Group, which already consisted of 11 companies by the late 1960s, expanded its business scope to include high-tech industries such as petrochemicals, energy and semiconductors, and more. It also expanded into construction, securities, distribution, insurance, and other service sectors. Along with this expansion, Lucky and Goldstar established many of their own affiliates. In 1983, the name of the group was changed to “Lucky Goldstar”.

The 1990s ushered in a new age of openness, globalization, and information. The name “Lucky Goldstar” was considered too long for overseas consumers. It was also necessary for the company to acquire a strong and vivid brand identity with an integrated corporate image to survive in the rapidly changing business world.

Establishment and Announcement of the “LG CI”

The birth of the LG CI started with innovative changes in management aimed at actively responding to the changing management environment and sharing the long-term vision of the group. LG was determined to unify the names of its domestic and overseas groups and affiliates. A survey was conducted among employees and domestic and overseas customers, and “LG” was eventually selected as the group’s new name.

Along with its new name, the company fully revamped its CI, seeking to strengthen the image of the existing Lucky Goldstar group and to build a global brand system. CI (Corporate Identity), which is composed of symbol mark and logotype, is the face of the company most often seen by its customers.

On January 1, 1995, the morning newspapers unveiled the new LG CI to citizens nationwide. To many, the CI looked like a red and round smiley face or red winking face emoji. There was only a simple message printed below the image saying, "Happy New Year”.

This ad sparked many people's curiosity. This curiosity was satisfied on January 4 after the New Year holidays when a full-page article titled “Lucky Goldstar turns into LG” was published in the newspaper. This was the first official greeting that LG gave to its customers.

The symbolic mark, the “Face of the Future”, presented along with the new name “LG” was inspired by the “Smile of Silla”, an artifact from the Silla Dynasty. It symbolizes five concepts and emotions—“world, future, youth, humanity, and technology”—and describes LG's management philosophy of "Creating Value for Customers" and promoting "People-oriented Management”. One eye of the smiley face, created with the “L” and the “G”, represents goal orientation, concentration, and smiling, and the asymmetric blank part on the right represents creativity and being able to adapt to changes.

In other words, the “Face of the Future” represents striving to be the best in the world, dynamic youth, and undertaking new technological challenges. It also symbolizes the face of the “global customers” that LG always keeps in mind. It shows LG’s People Resolution to respect customers all over the world and do its best to satisfy its customers.