[Asia Top Brand] The Pioneer of Smooth Soju, ‘Chum Churum’

[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Saehye] Lotte Chilsung Beverage’s “Cheoeum Cheoreom” has strongly shaken the domestic soju market, which was led by Chamisul, in a short period with product attributes of alkaline reduced water, an emotional brand name, and differentiated marketing.

Launched in February 2006, Cheoeum Cheoreom created a new sensation by breaking all kinds of sales records related to soju, selling 10 million bottles within 17 days of launch and 100 million bottles in less than six months.

Cheoeum Cheoreom replaced about 80% of the water used in soju production with “alkaline reduced water,” emphasizing that it is “soju with small water particles for smooth swallowing” and “the world’s first alkaline reduced water soju,” quickly establishing itself as a premium soju brand.

It also plays a leading role in driving the low-alcohol trend in the soju market. At launch, when 21 degrees was dominant, it imprinted smooth soju as “20-degree Cheoeum Cheoreom,” and in 2007, by lowering the alcohol content to 19.5 degrees, it led the “19.5-degree soju era,” which even the top company joined.

In February 2014, to further emphasize the product’s characteristic of “smoothness,” it launched “18-degree Cheoeum Cheoreom,” lowering the alcohol content by 1 degree after 7 years, breaking the “19-degree barrier,” and then renewed it again to 17.5 degrees from December, making it smoother.

In April 2018, the alcohol content was lowered by 0.5 degrees from 17.5 to 17 degrees, reaffirming its smoothness, and from December last year, it lowered the alcohol content by 0.1 degrees to 16.9, pioneering the era of 16-degree soju as the first nationwide main soju product.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.