Korea Tourism Organization Collaborates with Apparel Brand TopTen to Launch Regional Tourism Marketing

Image of Kingdom Friends developed as the representative character of Korean tourism.

[Asia Economy Reporter Donghyun Choi] The Korea Tourism Organization is set to fully embark on marketing efforts this year in collaboration with private companies to enhance regional tourism images and revitalize local economies.

On the 16th, the Tourism Organization announced that it will sign a business agreement with the domestic native clothing brand ‘TopTen’ on the 18th and promote various collaborations to publicize Korean tourism this year. The collaboration between the two companies focuses on marketing that stimulates the scarcity desire of the future generation, the MZ generation, and actively promotes online and offline local branding centered on tourism hub cities, which serve as the backdrop for ‘Feel the Rhythm of Korea.’

Among the collaborative initiatives, marketing using Korea Tourism’s representative characters, ‘Kingdom Friends’ characters ‘Hojongi’ and ‘Mugomi,’ draws attention. The two companies will produce and sell limited edition TopTen goods (planned products) such as T-shirts and pajamas featuring the characters, and operate Korean tourism promotion corners using Kingdom Friends at seven TopTen stores nationwide, including the Seoul Myeongdong store.

These TopTen stores are located in Seoul, which was the background for last year’s promotional video, five tourism hub cities (Busan, Jeonju, Gangneung, Andong, Mokpo), and the smart tourism city Incheon. In particular, the goods’ designs will be decided through an artwork contest to creatively reflect the unique characteristics of each city, and sales will be limited to the respective local cities. At the signing ceremony on the 18th, a ceremony will also be held to appoint the characters Hojongi and Mugomi as heads of sales responsible for TopTen’s business success.

Oh Choongseop, head of the Tourism Organization’s Brand Marketing Team, stated, “In the era of digital transformation, this year we plan to continuously promote ‘Feel the Rhythm of Korea’ Season 2, which captures the daily lives of local creators and young startups with themes of local alleys, art, culture, and lifestyle under the concept of regional branding.”

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