[Jihye Choi's Trend 2024] Infinite Transformations of K-Characters Move Consumers

GS Retail’s Independently Developed ‘Mumu-ssi’ Achieves Sold-Out Pop-Up Store Merchandise
Lotte Home Shopping’s ‘Bellygom’ Also a Success Story
Wins Presidential Award at Korea Content Awards
Expanding Beyond Korea to the US, Japan, and Worldwide
Public Institutions and Local Governments Actively Adopting Characters
MZ Generation Emerges as Main Consumer Group for Characters

Jihye Choi, Research Fellow at the Consumer Trend Analysis Center, Seoul National University

The term 'character' began to be used domestically in South Korea in the mid-2000s. Until then, characters were simply protagonists in cartoons. Over the past two decades, Korea's character industry has undergone rapid transformation. Just as characters in Japan and the United States expanded licensing into various fields and were utilized in industries, the importance of character business is growing in Korea as well. Now, consumers no longer just enjoy characters as the main figures in content. Let us examine the current status of the domestic character business, which has emerged as a core of consumer culture, and analyze the causes behind these consumption trends.

One of the most notable phenomena is the increasing number of companies developing their own characters. In July 2023, Seoul’s Seongsu-dong was bustling with consumers visiting to see the Tibetan fox character ‘Mumu-ssi’. People lined up to take ' 인증샷' (certification shots) in front of Mumu-ssi’s standee. Within five days of the Mumu-ssi pop-up store opening, 7,000 visitors came, and the stock of five types of merchandise sold out quickly. Mumu-ssi is a character independently developed by GS Retail, and products bearing the Mumu-ssi character sell like hotcakes, earning it the nickname ‘sales executive’.

The character ‘Bellygom’, created through an in-house venture at Lotte Home Shopping in 2018, is considered a representative success story of a company-made character. Bellygom gained recognition mainly through hidden camera content on YouTube, building a fandom, and by 2022, it had become so popular that it won the Presidential Award at the Korea Content Awards. Recently, Bellygom’s popularity appears to be expanding beyond Korea to the global stage. In December 2023, a special Bellygom pop-up store with a Christmas theme was held at ‘Shibuya109’, a landmark shopping mall in Shibuya, Tokyo. The pop-up featured a 1.8m Bellygom sculpture, signature sitting dolls, mochi cushions, and about 40 popular merchandise items, all decorated with Christmas motifs including Bellygom in a Santa suit and Kkonyang-i. A special exhibition was also held in Thailand. At ‘Siam Discovery’, the largest shopping mall in Bangkok, a Christmas-themed exhibition was opened, and at the outdoor plaza modeled after Siam Street, visitors formed long lines to see the 4m tall Bellygom. Additionally, Lotte Home Shopping has been actively promoting Bellygom’s IP overseas by participating in brand licensing expos in Las Vegas, USA, and London, UK. These cases suggest that while characters were once limited to being protagonists in content, they now play a leading role in attracting consumers and forming fandoms.

It is also interesting that sub-characters are gaining attention as interest in characters grows. ‘Janmang Loopy’ is the most representative example. Janmang Loopy originated from ‘Loopy’, a beaver character who is a friend of the main character Pororo in Korea’s leading preschool animation . It began gaining popularity after being released as emoticons and has since expanded its collaborations widely, including serving as an ambassador for the luxury brand Bulgari and shooting photo spreads for Vogue Korea. Recently, Janmang Loopy’s popularity seems to be spreading to China as well. In May 2023, it launched its first official account on Xiaohongshu (a Chinese SNS), and within seven months, the follower count exceeded 4.4 million. On WeChat, China’s version of KakaoTalk, Janmang Loopy emoticons have also ranked highly.

Finally, the public sector is actively adopting communication using characters. For example, Yongin City’s representative character ‘Joayang’ is cited as a success case. ‘Joayang’ was launched in 2016 by combining the ‘dragon’ image derived from Yongin’s place name with the social media feedback ‘like’. It gained popularity through steady word of mouth, leading to the opening of online and offline stores. Over two years, sales reached 500 million KRW, prompting the expansion of product offerings from 19 to over 40 types, and content was extended to YouTube and emoticons. Recently, a collaboration product was launched at Everland’s suggestion, selling over 4,000 units within two weeks and gaining recognition for its marketability.

So, what is the reason that character business, once consumed only as cartoon protagonists, has grown into influencers forming fandoms beyond merchandise? The most important reason is generational change. The MZ generation, who have been familiar with character consumption through cartoons and games since childhood, have emerged as the main consumer group of character business as adults. This means that character consumption, once considered a culture for children or some kidults, is expanding into adult culture. Moreover, the MZ generation’s digging consumption tendency?respecting individual tastes and hobbies and actively delving deeply into what they like?forms the foundation for expanding character worlds and actively consuming when content is commercialized as merchandise.

Additionally, it is important that character business remains strong even during economic downturns. According to the ‘2023 Character Industry White Paper’ published by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency, the most considered factor when purchasing products using character IP was ‘character design’ (44.4%, multiple responses allowed). This was higher than ‘product quality’ (31.6%) and ‘product price’ (27.6%). This means many people are willing to pay a higher price if the character is used appropriately. Therefore, companies have no choice but to be more aggressive in applying characters to their brands during recessions, as characters can reduce consumers’ price resistance.

According to the Korea Creative Content Agency, the domestic character market is expected to grow to 16.2 trillion KRW by 2025. As the content paradigm, which was previously centered on Japan and the United States, shifts to Korea, K-characters are also encountering new opportunities. Walt Disney once said, “Always remember that everything started with a dream and a mouse (Mickey Mouse).” As Walt Disney himself confessed, the kingdom of content ‘Disney’ began with a single mouse. This is why the future that the characters currently showcasing various possibilities domestically will create is so anticipated. Let us pay attention to the infinite transformations of K-characters that will captivate consumers’ hearts going forward.

Choi Ji-hye, Research Fellow, Seoul National University Consumer Trend Analysis Center