Vietnam Awards Baemin Typeface, Which It Opposes, at Global Competition

by Kim Chulhyun

Published 30 Nov.2020 09:16(KST)

Promoting Overseas Market with Font Style... "Success Formula in Korea Also Proven Effective Abroad"

Baemin billboard in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, created with the 'Baemin Daniel' font. It means "Crispy and warm Baemin has arrived (Baemin Nongjon Deoi)."

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] Baedal Minjok (Baemin), which entered the Vietnamese market in May last year, introduced a typeface that won an award alongside famous companies at an international typeface competition. It was praised for "creating a strong brand identity solely through the typeface."

According to Woowa Brothers on the 30th, Baemin Vietnam Corporation's typeface 'Baemin Danielche,' developed in collaboration with the local Vietnamese design studio Rice, was selected as a winner at the Type Champions Award 2020. This competition, hosted by Monotype, a global font company with 120 years of history, included 10 famous brands such as IBM, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and Adidas among the winners, alongside Baemin Vietnam Corporation.

Monotype highly evaluated Baemin Danielche from both design and brand identity perspectives. The organizers stated, "The design reinterprets the Vietnamese alphabet and tones, which are challenging, in an original way, blending the beauty of the Vietnamese language into the brand." They particularly noted that the typeface alone created a strong visual identity for the Baemin brand as the reason for the award.

According to Woowa Brothers, the development of Baemin Danielche was the starting point for Baemin's advance into Vietnam. They judged that the successful know-how of establishing Baemin's brand identity with the self-developed 'Hanna-che' in Korea since 2012 would also work in Vietnam.

The 3-tier lunchbox from BAEMIN, popular in Vietnam. The sentence and meaning change depending on the stacking order.

As in Korea, Baemin used the typeface for rider uniforms, goods, and advertisements in Vietnam. They are conducting marketing using a unique typeface to make the unfamiliar app name 'BAEMIN' feel friendly to locals. Just as Woowa Brothers developed a total of nine typefaces domestically, they plan to develop various additional typefaces in Vietnam to enhance the BAEMIN brand value. In particular, the next Vietnamese typeface will be developed with the theme of Vietnamese cities and culture, similar to the 'Euljiroche' and 'Euljiro10nyeonhucho' introduced domestically by Woowa Brothers last year and this year.

Ingiwan, Head of Woowa Brothers' Overseas Business Division, said, "Branding based on Baemin Danielche played an important role in making the unfamiliar app 'BAEMIN' feel familiar to locals in the unfamiliar Vietnamese market," adding, "This award not only globally recognized Baemin's design capabilities but also reaffirmed that Baemin's unique marketing methods pioneered domestically work overseas as well."