Lotte Mart & Supermarket, Conducts 3rd Cohort of University Student Think Tank Program ZRT

Proposal for PB Marketing Strategy by Oneuljoheun, Yoriha-da

Lotte Mart and Lotte Super announced on the 7th that they will be conducting the university student think tank program 'ZRT 3rd Generation' from December 19th last year until March 6th.

ZRT (Gen Z Round Table) is a university student think tank program first introduced at the end of 2022 by the large-scale mart industry to gain fresh consumer insights from Generation Z in the distribution industry. This ZRT is the third iteration following the 1st generation in 2023 and the 2nd generation in 2024, with a total of 16 university students organized into teams of four.

The appearance of university students participating in the 3rd ZRT inauguration ceremony of Lotte Mart·Super on December 19, 2024. Provided by Lotte Mart.

This year, they plan to propose various marketing strategies related to Lotte Mart and Super's PB brands 'Oneul Joeun, Yorihada' (Good Today, Cooking). Participants will engage in project planning without any restrictions, including advertising shoots to increase PB brand awareness, new product proposals, and the use of AI systems.

A mentoring system by current marketing professionals will also be operated. Through this, Lotte Mart and Super aim to establish themselves as the brand that customers first think of when purchasing PB products, achieving the goal of becoming the 'No.1 grocery market in Korea.'

Teams that achieve excellent results during the activity period will be awarded scholarships and given opportunities to apply their planned projects in the field. For outstanding team projects, after the conclusion of ZRT activities, marketing managers will comprehensively review marketability, budget, expected effects, and more to help their ideas come to fruition.

Lotte Mart and Super achieved significant results such as increased visitor numbers and cost savings through the previous ZRT 1st and 2nd generations. In the 1st generation, to promote Lotte’s ESG brand 'RE:EARTH,' a 'Young Artists Exhibition' was held at Lotte Mart Yangpyeong branch in September 2023. The exhibition featured works by emerging artists, sales of 'RE:EARTH' goods, and family participation programs. As a result, the number of visitors at the Yangpyeong branch increased by about 10% compared to the previous year during the two weeks of the exhibition. In the 2nd generation, they used a generative AI music production platform to create background music (BGM) played in nationwide stores in August 2024, reducing costs and time by about 90% compared to the traditional method of hiring composers and singers.

Kang San, a manager of the Lotte Mart and Super Brand Strategy Team, said, "We conduct various mentoring and projects to ensure that excellent ideas from ZRT are realized on-site to create Lotte Mart and Super that Generation Z loves." He added, "All activities related to ZRT can be checked through the Naver Cafe operated by Lotte Mart and Super."

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