K-Bio, K-Beauty, K-Food... Selection of Representative 'Brand K' Products by Sector

National Team 'Brand K' Final Evaluation Meeting Held

Minister Park Young-sun of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the evaluation committee members of the Brand K final review are taking a photo.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] The Ministry of SMEs and Startups (Minister Park Young-sun, hereinafter referred to as the Ministry) announced on the 29th that it held the final evaluation meeting of 100 experts for the selection of the joint brand for small and medium enterprises, 'Brand K,' at COEX in Seoul. This event was originally scheduled to be held in February but was postponed due to the atmosphere of refraining from large-scale events caused by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19). However, as the situation prolonged, it was judged necessary to support exports for overcoming the economic crisis, promoting exports, and supporting K-Bio SMEs, whose demand is rapidly increasing worldwide. Therefore, the event was held under strict quarantine measures, including compliance with the 'COVID-19 Response Manual' and ensuring safety on-site.

As 'Brand K' is the representative joint brand for the overseas expansion of our SMEs, this event was co-hosted by several export-related organizations, including the Korea International Trade Association, the Small and Medium Business Distribution Center, the Small and Medium Business Corporation, and the Foundation for Cooperation between Large, Small, and Medium Enterprises in Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries. For the selection of the 2nd Brand K, various new processes were introduced to supplement the selection process of the 1st term. First, a recommendation track from related organizations was newly established to discover additional products with high success potential in overseas markets, thereby expanding the pool of candidate products. Also, pre-screening was conducted through physical evaluation rather than written evaluation to improve the accuracy of the assessment.

Additionally, at the final evaluation meeting held that day, strict evaluations were conducted by a panel of 100 experts and celebrities from various fields such as K-Bio, K-Beauty, and K-Food, targeting 150 products that passed the pre-screening out of a total of 1,045 products. In particular, public voting was conducted online simultaneously to enhance fairness and transparency in the selection process and to secure the representativeness of the selected products. The evaluation meeting, which lasted five hours from 1 p.m., resulted in the final selection of about 80 products out of the 150 candidates. For the top-selected products, a live promotional broadcast with influencers alongside Minister Park Young-sun was conducted to increase the promotional effect of the 'Brand K' policy.

For the finally selected products, various support measures will be linked to improve product quality and develop overseas sales channels, and various benefits such as special sales exhibitions and dedicated zones will be provided. In particular, for the top 20 products, consulting services based on big data will be provided, including determining target markets for each product, deriving key promotional messages, and establishing entry strategies. Additionally, various consulting and promotional sales benefits will be offered, such as relay special sales events with major domestic home shopping companies, including Public Home Shopping.

Minister Park Young-sun emphasized once again the necessity of export support for SMEs through a joint brand utilizing Korea's national image, taking advantage of Korea's elevated status due to COVID-19. She stated, "For SMEs struggling to establish themselves in the global market due to a lack of brand power, national guarantees and support through a joint brand leveraging the national image are essential." She added, "The 80 products selected through this final evaluation meeting are excellent products with global marketability and innovation. It is expected that they will be able to perform even better in the global market through linkage with various government export support projects following the selection of Brand K."

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