Olympic Games still selling UK brands in Asia

The "Olympic effect" is still boosting sales of British brands across Asia, months after the closing ceremony, with South Korea's biggest department store chain seeing a $50m (£31m) rise in UK companies' sales thanks to the Games.

Douglas Barrett, the head of UK trade and investment at the British Embassy in Seoul, said: "The Union Jack has been flying much more in Seoul. We saw a rapid increase in the number of South Korean businesses asking to partner with UK-focused branding during the Games, and the Olympic effect is still there."

The Lotte department store chain used the Olympics to promote 16 British brands including Burberry, Daks, Royal Albert homeware and Lye Cross Farm mature cheddar cheese.

"Brand Britain is hugely successful in South Korea," Mr Barrett said. "The Olympics had a defining effect on how people think about the UK. It used to be about the English gentleman and heritage values, but the opening ceremony opened everyone's eyes up to modern, multicultural Britain."