From Memes to Mukbangs, Competing with Diversity... Distribution Industry Launches Ontact Marketing

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[Asia Economy Reporter Choi Saeng-hye] Recently, in the distribution industry, 'Ontact' has rapidly emerged as a new trend. Ontact is a concept that adds online connection (On) to 'Untact,' which means non-face-to-face. It is gaining more attention because it allows expanded communication with consumers and product promotion amid social distancing in daily life. Accordingly, the distribution industry is continuously introducing various ontact contents that combine fun elements such as memes, cooking classes, and mukbang.

According to the related industry on the 13th, Twosome Place is running a digital campaign this summer on its official Instagram channel called ‘101 Reasons of summer (101 Reasons Why Twosome is Fun This Summer).’ This campaign, which started on the 23rd of last month, delivers a total of 101 witty contents to customers, one each day, for about three months until August 31. The content is based on Twosome’s summer season drinks, desserts, and MD products, but it approaches the millennial generation enthusiastic about meme (words or fun elements trending on the internet) trends by humorously expressing product names with wordplay or cleverly using seasonal issues.

OB Beer’s flagship brand ‘Cass’ collaborated with Baek Jong-won, CEO of The Born Korea and advertising model, to release ‘Aljja Beer Class’ on its official YouTube channel. ‘Aljja Beer Class’ is an online beer class featuring Baek Jong-won’s extensive beer knowledge, conducted in a free atmosphere without a script together with comedians Yang Se-hyung and Yang Se-chan brothers. Starting with the ‘So-maek (soju + beer) episode,’ videos such as ‘Enjoying Beer at Home,’ ‘National Beer and Beer Preferences,’ and the recent ‘Fact Check episode’ have been released weekly, gaining popularity.

Ottogi is also recognized as a company that consistently uploads ‘perfect combination’ cooking videos for each product on its official Instagram. On YouTube, Ham Yeon-ji, daughter of Chairman Ham Young-jun, promotes Ottogi products through her personal YouTube channel. On the 8th of last month, as a Parents’ Day content, Chairman Ham personally appeared and attracted attention by doing a mukbang while eating dishes made with Ottogi products.

Amorepacific’s ‘Beauty Point’ YouTube channel is also drawing attention with content preferred by young customers, such as fun and trends, rather than traditional advertising content. Although there are only nine videos posted on the channel, the cumulative views exceed 28 million. The ‘Healing Times’ content, which vividly shows scenes of breaking and crushing their own cosmetics like lipstick and eyeshadow with realistic sounds, is especially popular.

Gmarket Global Shop operates a YouTube channel called ‘INSSAOPPA G,’ which introduces Korean culture and products. This channel has gained great popularity not only domestically but also among overseas viewers by featuring familiar YouTubers who honestly review beauty box products one by one, highlighting pros and cons, along with giveaway events. Recently, it received the ‘Silver Button’ from YouTube headquarters. The YouTube ‘Silver Button’ certifies that the channel has surpassed 100,000 subscribers.

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