"Will You Receive a Golden Calf or Live a Month in Jeju?" Big Year-End Event... College Entrance Exam Marketing Fades Away

Life Hardened by COVID-19... Bigger Promotions
Retail Industry Cuts Marketing Due to Decrease in Suneung Test Takers

[Asia Economy Reporters Seon-ae Lee, Min-young Cha, Seung-jin Lee] The year-end marketing battle in the distribution industry is heating up. Events have appeared offering prizes such as a 10-don gold calf, 100 million won in cash, and even a one-month stay in Jeju Island including round-trip airfare and a rental car for families.

Various Events to Soothe the Hardships of COVID-19

On the 3rd, Haemaro Food Service's Mom's Touch announced the successful completion of the '2020 Nationwide Office Workers' Hardship Sharing' event to commemorate the launch of their new product, the 'Real Beef Burger.'

The first prize winner receives a 20-don gold calf and Mom's Touch new products to share with colleagues at work. The second prize winner receives a 10-don gold calf and Real Beef Burgers for the workplace, and the third prize winner receives the latest LG Gram laptop.

A Mom's Touch representative said, "Reflecting the eventful year, we received over 9,000 entries, showing a warm response," adding, "We held this large-scale event to energetically prepare for the new year."

Stationery company Monami is holding an event to celebrate its 60th anniversary, offering up to 100 million won to purchasers of the Plus Pen 3000 desk pen. This event, conducted via YouTube live broadcast, is hosted by YouTubers Daedoseogwan and Yumdang.

Jeju Beer is recruiting for Season 2 of its One Month Living in Jeju campaign, Winter Edition. Three teams will be selected to receive full support including accommodation carefully selected by Jeju Beer, rental cars, round-trip airfare, a snap photo voucher, travel kits, travel discount coupons, and quarantine supplies. The Season 1 campaign in July attracted about 100,000 applicants, recording a competition rate of 25,000 to 1, becoming a hot topic.

Lotte Foods, together with the Korean Pork Producers Association, is running the 'K-Rospam Supports Our Korean Pork Farms' event until January 31 next year. For every purchase verification photo uploaded, 1,000 won is accumulated to donate goods to underprivileged groups. Among participating consumers, 1,983 people will be selected by lottery to receive gifts such as 5-don golden pigs and 1kg Korean pork gift sets.

On the 3rd, the day of the 2021 College Scholastic Ability Test, examinees are waiting for the exam to start at the testing site set up at Gyeongbok High School in Jongno-gu, Seoul. / Photo by Joint Press Corps

Reduced Marketing for College Entrance Exams

With a sharp decline in the number of college entrance exam (Suneung) test takers and the impossibility of university interviews if confirmed positive for COVID-19, the enthusiasm for Suneung marketing is not what it used to be. Shinsegae Department Store is not conducting any marketing related to this year's Suneung. Hyundai Department Store is running Suneung marketing only at two locations: Cheonho and Jungdong branches. CJ Olive Young and GS Retail's 'Lalavla' have also decided not to conduct marketing targeting test takers this year.

Large supermarkets are selecting and discounting products preferred by prospective university students, such as smartphones and tablet PCs. Emart is holding an event offering a 50,000 won discount on the 'iPhone 12' and 'iPhone 12 Mini' for students who bring their exam admission ticket. Homeplus is discounting tablet PCs and laptops. Electronic Land is holding a 'Mobile Special Exhibition' for test takers until the 27th, giving GS25 convenience store gift certificates as gifts upon mobile phone activation.

The convenience store industry is focusing on non-face-to-face marketing using social networking services (SNS) and applications. GS25 is giving Vita 500 to the first 2,021 people who upload their exam admission ticket or study certification photos on the official Instagram account through the app 'The Pop.' Emart24 is holding an event from the 4th to the 10th, giving KakaoTalk emoticons 'Taste of Seoul 2020' or 500 won coupons to the first applicants born in 2002. CU is giving mobile gift certificates by lottery to those who tag a test-taking friend in the Suneung support posts on the official Instagram account.

A distribution industry official explained, "As the number of test takers decreases, the marketing effect is also diminishing, leading to a trend of scaling down related marketing," adding, "With more important events like Christmas in December approaching and social distancing measures strengthened, the industry is taking a breather."

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