[1mm Financial Talk] 'Wibee Friends' Revamped After 6 Years... 5 Companies, 5 Unique Character Battles

Woori Bank is revamping its representative character, 'Wibee Friends,' for the first time in six years and is launching full-scale marketing efforts. Marketing using Wibee Friends had been suspended after the existing financial application Wibee Bank was discontinued, but it has been revived recently as competitors such as KB, Shinhan, and Hana Financial Group actively engage in character utilization businesses.

According to the financial sector on the 30th, Woori Bank unveiled the comeback video of the newly revamped Wibee Friends titled 'Let's Go Get Honey' to over 1,200 employees at a management strategy meeting held on the 27th at KINTEX in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, restarting character marketing. The new Wibee Friends take their identity as K-POP idols.

Wibee Friends originated from Woori Bank's first-ever financial sector bee character 'Wibee' introduced in 2015. The following year, five additional characters personifying animals and insects were added, creating 'Wibee Friends.' However, in 2019, when the banking app Wibee Bank was revamped into the current Woori WON Banking, marketing using Wibee Friends was effectively halted.

Woori Bank and Woori Financial Group's decision to revive Wibee Friends after six years is interpreted as a response to recent active character marketing efforts by competing financial companies. Currently, KB Financial Group has launched 'Star Friends,' Shinhan Financial Group has 'Shinhan Friends,' Hana Financial Group has 'Hana Family,' and NH Nonghyup Financial Group has 'All One Friends,' all of which are being used in various marketing activities.

KB Financial Group has created 'Star Friends Gardens' at Gwacheon Seoul Grand Park, Gwangneung National Arboretum, Seoul Botanic Park, and Seoul Children's Grand Park using their characters. They also utilize Star Friends characters in various events such as financial products like group savings accounts and the opening of a branch at Incheon International Airport to enhance familiarity.

Shinhan Bank also opened 'Cafe Swith' as a job creation support project for the hearing-impaired and remodeled its Myeongdong branch as a collaboration store with Shinhan Friends. Recently, they held a custom T-shirt production event with Shinhan Friends, which sold out all 4,000 shirts within five days.

Woori Financial Group plans to produce advertisements and animations featuring the newly revamped Wibee Friends as models and use them in various Woori Financial events. They also intend to strengthen customer contact points by opening Wibee Friends pop-up stores at major locations.

The active character marketing in the financial sector aligns with the trend of financial companies' main sales channels becoming non-face-to-face. Just as Kakao Bank has enjoyed recognition and marketing effects through the existing Kakao Friends, the aim is to expand the young customer base, including the MZ generation (Millennials + Generation Z), through their own characters.

The challenge is that banks still have a long way to go before monetizing character businesses. Under current laws, banks must obtain approval from authorities for non-core business activities. Some banks have received licensing approval related to characters, but there are restrictions on profit-making activities such as creating emoticons or goods using their characters. The use of characters is limited mainly to marketing purposes for this reason.

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