Gumi City Adds 'Brand' to Local Alleys

Gumi Local Creator Performance Sharing Event
'Gumi Topping Alley Talk Talk!!' Held
Case Presentations and Communication Programs
Support for Brand Development and Commercialization
Achievements Include Sold-Out Goods and Trademark Applications

On December 5, the city of Gumi in North Gyeongsang Province held the local creator development project performance sharing event, 'Gumi Topping Alley Talk Talk!!', with more than 40 participants including small business owners and project managers.

This event was hosted by the Gumi city government and organized by the Gumi Electronics & Information Technology Institute.

'Topping Alley' refers to a space that has been newly transformed by adding creative ideas and products to local alleys, similar to putting toppings on a pizza.

(Left) Group photo taken after hosting 'Gumi Topping Alley Talk Talk!!' (Right) Local creator product exhibition / Photo by Kim Ihwan

The event was divided into two parts. The first part featured a business promotion video, followed by presentations on outstanding operational cases.

Sunho Kwak, CEO of Kwak Sunho Bread Workshop; Sunhwa Kim, CEO of Edubloom, who created Maehwa Bread to promote the Maehwa flowers of Maehakjeong; and Subin Kim, CEO of Avec Shop, a cultural complex space, shared the challenges they faced while running their businesses, the improvement processes, and their unique management philosophies.

The second part included a local brand quiz and open discussion, providing an opportunity for participants to strengthen their networks. They shared the background stories and narratives behind each local brand and discussed possibilities for collaboration.

The Gumi local creator development project, launched in 2023, supports the branding process for creative local small business products based on Gumi's unique resources.

In 2025, 15 new local creators were selected and provided with consulting services and business funding of 20 million won each.

The project is already showing results. Kyunghoon Kim, CEO of WB Studio, designed and developed goods and sold five types of 'Muze' (the integrated brand of the National Museum of Korea's products) at the National Museum of Korea, with all items selling out within three days.

Jeonghee Kim, CEO of Geumosan Traditional Foods, has enhanced the competitiveness of local products by launching the Jangwonbang brand and filing 18 character trademarks.

Kim Youngcheol, Director of Economic Affairs, stated, "We will reflect the feedback from the field at this performance sharing event in future policy design," and added, "We will continue to support local creators so that they can expand the appeal of the region with their own brands."

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