While there are a countless number of great restaurants in Seoul, when it comes to ‘healthier’ options choices may drop (apart from so-called ‘healthy traditional K-food’). As I was on a diet, this could have been a problem when seeing friends… before I encountered La Ferme, a ‘super food’ restaurant! How I found it was almost by luck really; I happened to see my friend’s Instagram photo when I was looking up dinner options with other friends. When I first saw her photo, I was attracted by food plating (i.e. Instagrammable). But what appealed to me afterwards was the ingredients used for each dish my friend had. I couldn’t help reading the restaurant’s menu, which convinced me so easily to visit and try. The below is my review about the restaurant including our choice of dishes, general vibes and more. Location La Ferme (라페름) is placed between Itaewon and Hangangjin…
This post talks about my day trip to Jumunjin, Gangwon-do Province in South Korea to reenact a scene from my all-time favourite K-drama Goblin (or Guardian). If you’re a big fan of Goblin, you cannot miss this spot in Korea! Check out how I prepared to look like Ji Eun-tak and what kind of transport options are available. Reading my travelogue, you may find yourself ready to set off to Gangwon for a photoshoot like me. I guarantee it is great fun! The mega-hit K-Drama Goblin <Guardian: The Lonely and Great God> K-drama Goblin (‘Guardian: The Lonely and Great God’ for the official English title; ‘도깨비 – 쓸쓸하고 찬란하神’ for the Korean equivalent) is definitely one of the most-watched dramas of recent years in Korea. You can tell it from the fact that its final episode got the highest average viewership (20.5%) among every cable drama so far. It even recorded a…
Although Pokémon GO has been launched in only a few countries, the aspiration for it is boiling up across the world. Will Pokémon GO be able to fundamentally influence on the tourism industry and restructure how to execute tourism marketing? (Pokémon GO Website) Pokémon GO is a smartphone game enabled by the location-based service (LBS), where smartphone users become ‘Pokémon trainers’. They seek out Pokémons shown on the app, catch them throwing PokeBalls, and train them at gyms. Unlike computer games, since Pokémon GO requires users to actually explore the areas in their neighbourhood (or travel further!), some say Pokémon GO has achieved what Fitbit has not managed completely (i.e. encouraging those who do not exercise and/or like to be home to go out for walks and running). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWtDeeXtMZM (Pokémon GO Trailer) The augmented reality technology (AR), a technology that can overlap and present virtual features on the reality which Pokémon GO is based on, is not something that is never heard of; it…
H&M lured a lot of shoppers all around the world thanks to the collaboration with Balmain recently. In front of the H&M store in Myeongdong, Seoul, South Korea, people wanting to buy the H&M x Balmain items had camped from a week before of the event.
It was said that about 400 people in line were divided into groups of 30 people in this branch, and roughly 1,100 people queued up in advance in total across 4 branches in H&M stores in South Korea. They were allowed to shop for 10 minutes and every item was sold out in three hours. This sounds rather extreme, but the collaboration strategy certainly worked.
Talking of collaboration, it seems companies in South Korea also love to work with other brands for sales, especially targeting ‘kidults’ nowadays. Kidults is a term combining two words ‘kid’ and ‘adult’, indicating grown-ups who still want to keep child-like tastes. They feel nostalgia for their childhood and want to recall it through toys they used to play with or cartoon characters that were popular back in those days. The concept seems expanded in that now it doesn’t seem goods necessarily have to be the exact items that were popular when they were young; kidults like to enjoy buying and collecting items that look cute and child-like as long as the products can make them feel they are back to their childhood.
Between in late twenties and forties they are those who can actually purchase nostalgic items, less influenced by price, to appreciate their child-like hobbies. This has appealed to marketers in South Korea. They have started to pair up with other character/cartoon brands to design their products with the characters on to attract kidult consumers.
The following examples might illustrate how popular collaboration, particularly with character brands, is in South Korea at the moment. It was almost countless; as a result the collection of the examples below may be also rather long.
1. Cosmetics
- A’PIEU x Doraemon
- LAPCOS x Disney
- VDL x Kakao Friends
- CODE x MOOMIN
- TONYMOLY x MIGHTY ATOM
<Image Source: TONYMOLY Website>
- Innisfree x Line Friends
2. Clothing
- BEANPOLE x Kakao Friends
<Image Source: SSFshop Website>
3. Culture
- MEGABOX (Cinema) x Oxford
- CGV (Cinema) x Kakao Friends
- CU (Convenient Store) x Oxford
4. Food & Drink
- Samlip x Line Friends (: random character stickers inside)
- First Soju (alcoholic drinks) X SML
<Image Source: First Soju Facebook Page>
5. Etc.
- T-Money (Transportation Card) x Mini Bus Tayo
- T-Money x Line Friends
<Image Source: T-Money Shop>
- Thermos x Line Friends