Unique Cross-Industry Collaboration... "Capturing the MZ Generation"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seungjin Lee] Recently, unique collaborations that break down boundaries between industries such as food and dining have been continuing. This is aimed at targeting the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z), who are highly sensitive to change and have a strong interest in novelty.

According to the food industry on the 20th, Shinsegae Food's health beverage brand Smoothie King launched two new spring menu items, 'Vita500 Tropical Smoothie' and 'Vita500 Tropical Ade,' in collaboration with Kwangdong Pharmaceutical. This is their second collaboration with Kwangdong Pharmaceutical, following the release of the Ssanghwa Smoothie in 2019, which reinterpreted Kwangdong Pharmaceutical's 'Kwangdong Ssanghwa-tang.'

The newly released products contain 500mg of vitamin C, the same amount as one bottle of Kwangdong Pharmaceutical's Vita500, and blend tropical fruits such as orange, guava, mango, and passion fruit to add a refreshing taste.

A Smoothie King representative explained, "Vitamin C, known as a representative antioxidant nutrient, plays a role in protecting health weakened by fatigue and temperature differences, so it is expected to receive a lot of positive responses from customers who have recently become more interested in health."

The collaboration between the beef specialty brand Ichadol and HiteJinro's Jinro Soju also continued. Last month, Ichadol and Jinro Soju held the 'Ichadol i Smoke Awards' event through major social media platforms including the mobile video platform TikTok, featuring each brand's characters, which drew great responses from the younger generation. The advertisement video released on SNS recorded a total of 2.12 million views.

A meeting of snacks and ramen also took place. Binggrae made Ottogi's ramen product Chamkkae Ramen into a snack, while Ottogi made Binggrae's snack product Kkotgerang into ramen. This is the first case of collaboration between companies within the same industry in the food sector. Since the collaboration products bring together the representative products of both companies, great effort was put into product development to highlight the individuality of each product.

An industry insider explained, "Collaborations between industries especially attract great interest from young consumers," adding, "Collaborative products are often released in limited quantities, so sharing reviews on SNS is active, resulting in significant marketing effects."

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