Mom's Secret Ingredient 'Miwon'... Transformed into 'Heungmiwon' for an Explosion of Umami Flavor (Comprehensive)

Special Package Featuring 'Heungmiwon' Sub-Character Targeting MZ Generation
Spreading a Message of a Joyful World... Strengthening Position as National Seasoning on 64th Anniversary

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Seon-ae] The magical powder "Miwon," which has led the history of umami flavor in South Korea, has embarked on building a lively brand image through the release of a limited edition package. Having continuously improved its quality to deliver a soft and clean umami taste, the company now aims to strengthen its position as the "national seasoning" by embedding a message into the product's power.

Spreading the Message of a ‘Life Worth Living’ with Miwon

On the 5th, Daesang announced the launch of the Miwon special package "Heungmiwon," which carries the meaning that the happiness felt from delicious food stimulates excitement and brings about a "life worth living." In response to the recent boom of "buca (sub-character)" culture, Heungmiwon was planned as Miwon's sub-character targeting the MZ generation, which has emerged as a major consumer group.

While the main character (main character) Miwon "adds umami to food to enhance its taste," the sub-character Heungmiwon's core message is "enhancing the flavor of life." Especially, the Miwon special package features the Heungmiwon character dancing joyfully and the phrase "Daily Umami Explosion," emphasizing a message that boosts everyday excitement. Heungmiwon will be sold for about three months from this month until December and will be released as household products such as "Fermented Miwon" (100g) and "Umami Miwon" (72g).

Along with the special package release, Daesang also started airing advertisements from the 1st. Under the theme "A Pinch of Today's Umami," the ads depict various relatable situations for the MZ generation, humorously embracing them with expressions like "It tastes good to do ~." The Heungmiwon ads consist of five episodes: "Failure," "Annual Leave," "Wedding Invitation," "Tumbler," and "Excitement." The "Failure" episode conveys the lesson learned from a nephew playing games that "even if you fail, you can try again," humorously expressing "Failure tastes good." The "Annual Leave" episode cleverly compares annual leave, half-day leave, and monthly leave to tea, which is good for stress relief, portraying taking time off at work as "tastes good to pick and drink."

A Daesang official said, "Recently, active marketing activities to communicate with the MZ generation have been underway, and Heungmiwon was planned to expand brand experience so that Miwon can be felt more interestingly," adding, "We plan to further strengthen communication through various channels such as YouTube and TikTok targeting young consumers."

There is youthfulness in the Miwon marketing that Daesang has carried out so far. In 2018, Miwon 100g was marketed using the fact that its umami taste is equivalent to that of one cow or 100 chickens, releasing Miwon packages with the phrases "Thank you for saving the chicken" and "Thank you for saving the cow." The YouTube ads featuring singer Kim Heechul, titled "We saved 100 chickens today" and "I saved one cow today," surpassed 3.4 million cumulative views and gained popularity. Earlier this year, reflecting the retro trend, the Miwon recipe book "Miwon Restaurant" was published, proposing recipes using Miwon in various fields such as Korean, Chinese, and Western cuisine, increasing contact points with young consumers and receiving good responses, with a second printing underway.

64-Year-Old National Seasoning: The Era of ‘One Miwon per Household’

Miwon, the "secret weapon" that brings out the taste of mom's cooking, marks its 64th year since its inception this year. In 1956, when the Japanese seasoning "Ajinomoto" had captivated Korean taste buds, the first domestic seasoning, Miwon, was born. The late Chairman Lim Dae-hong, founder of Daesang Group, went to Japan in 1955 to achieve "taste independence." After about a year of effort, Chairman Lim acquired the manufacturing method of "glutamic acid," the component that produces umami flavor. Glutamic acid is the umami component discovered by Dr. Kikunae Ikeda of Japan.

Chairman Lim returned to Busan and built a small seasoning factory of 490㎡. This was the first seasoning factory in Korea, Dong-A Hwaseong Industrial Co., Ltd. (the predecessor of Miwon). Here, the first domestically produced seasoning Miwon was created using purely domestic technology and capital. Word of mouth spread that adding a little Miwon to any dish improved its taste, and almost every household at the time used Miwon. It was not an exaggeration to say that the "one Miwon per household era" had begun. Accordingly, in 1962, Chairman Lim changed the company name to Miwon. Later, the Miwon Group changed its name once again to Daesang Group in 1997.

The late Im Dae-hong, founder of Daesang Group

Miwon, which had been loved nationwide, suddenly faced an unexpected crisis. In the early 1990s, a food company launched a no-additive marketing campaign, sparking controversy over the safety of MSG (monosodium glutamate). MSG is a substance made by adding sodium to glutamic acid obtained by fermenting raw sugar or molasses from sugarcane with microorganisms, making it easily soluble in water. Subsequently, Miwon was shunned by domestic consumers and experienced a stagnation period of nearly 20 years.

However, as various research institutions proved the safety of MSG, Miwon gradually began to regain its former glory. Especially in 2016, when the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety decided to completely remove the term "chemically synthesized additives" from the classification of food additives, consumer perception of MSG began to change significantly. A Daesang official said, "The most authoritative institutions responsible for global food safety unanimously concluded that MSG is safe, and thus the controversy over its harmfulness disappeared."

Daesang continues to strive to deliver a softer and cleaner umami taste. In October 2014, by reducing the ratio of nucleotides that enhance umami when blended with L-glutamic acid sodium salt, the most ideal umami taste was achieved, and the product name was changed from the existing "Umami Miwon" to "Fermented Miwon." The package design also boldly reduced the red shinseonro (traditional Korean brazier) pattern that symbolized Miwon for over 60 years, emphasizing a natural feel and featuring a sugarcane image on the front to help understand the raw materials. In February 2015, the light green "Fermented Miwon flavored with kelp" was released, emphasizing the sugarcane image, and in April 2017, the "Shiitake Mushroom Fermented Miwon," which has a light brown color due to added shiitake mushroom extract, was also introduced.

Fermented Miwon, renewed and introduced (left: Umami Miwon).

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