"Who Am I?" Bellygom · "Yongjin Hyung's True Friend" Jayrilla... Lotte and Shinsegae Character Showdown

by Kim Yuri

Published 13 Apr.2022 11:10(KST)

Belligom Born from Lotte Homeshopping MZ Generation... Released After YouTube Popularity
1.76 Million Visitors to Giant Belligom Exhibition... Goods Sold Out in a Row 'Big Hit'
Shinsegae Food Jayrilla Establishes SNS Presence with 'Yongjin Hyung Network'
Jayrilla IP Business in Full Swing Following Bakery and Baseball Stadium Skybox

Public exhibition of Lotte Homeshopping's 'Amazing Bellygom' viewed from Lotte World Tower. Citizens are lining up to take photos with the 15m giant 'Bellygom'.

Major retail conglomerates such as Lotte and Shinsegae are expanding their businesses by leveraging characters. Lotte is employing a strategy of keeping its relationship with the group secret and revealing it later, while Shinsegae is focusing on 'character promotion' by openly emphasizing its close relationship with Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin.

According to Lotte Home Shopping on the 13th, the cumulative number of visitors to the public exhibition of 'Bellygom' held at the outdoor lawn plaza of Lotte World Tower in Songpa-gu, Seoul, reached 1.76 million from its opening on the 1st through the 11th. With the cherry blossom season underway, citizens who came out for spring outings at Seokchon Lake joined the line to take 인증 photos with Bellygom, resulting in long waiting lines. On social media, over 20,000 posts mentioned Bellygom. The unexpectedly large crowd also boosted the popularity of Bellygom goods at the on-site pop-up store. The mini version of the giant Bellygom, the 'Bellygom Sitting Doll,' sold out the prepared quantity within an hour of opening and was completely sold out, while face cushions and birthday celebration dolls also sold out.

Internal reactions have also been encouraging. The Bellygom character was proposed by MZ generation (Millennials + Gen Z) employees at Lotte Home Shopping through an internal contest and directly planned, achieving success with an SNS fandom of 1.1 million in three years. This has motivated many employees to pursue further opportunities. Due to this popularity, the exhibition period, initially scheduled until the 17th, has been extended to the 24th. Next month, a giant Bellygom exhibition will continue at Lotte Premium Outlets Time Villas in Uiwang, Gyeonggi Province. Efforts are also underway to develop Bellygom as an independent brand. Plans include entering the global market through non-fungible token (NFT) figures and more.

Jung Yong-jin, Vice Chairman of Shinsegae Group, is taking a commemorative photo with Shinsegae Food's character 'Jirilla' in the skybox 'Room Jirilla' at Incheon SSG Landers Field.

Shinsegae Food is also working to expand the reach of 'Jayrilla,' a character resembling Shinsegae Group Vice Chairman Chung Yong-jin. On the 9th, Shinsegae Food revealed 'Room Jayrilla,' a skybox at Incheon SSG Landers Field, via Jayrilla’s Instagram. The character was applied to the interior, baseballs, and baseball jackets. Vice Chairman Chung, who visited the baseball stadium, also showed support by taking 인증 photos with Jayrilla. Jayrilla, based on the worldview of 'a gorilla born on Mars,' was established last year as a cute character who refers to Vice Chairman Chung as 'Yongjin hyung' (Brother Yongjin) and acts like a close friend.

Shinsegae Food plans to actively develop intellectual property (IP) businesses using the Jayrilla character across various fields this year. Previously, at last month’s shareholders’ meeting, Shinsegae Food added content production, distribution, and sales, character product manufacturing and sales, and third-party licensing to its business objectives. In November last year, they also introduced the bakery 'Universe by Jayrilla' in Cheongdam-dong, Gangnam-gu, incorporating the Jayrilla character’s worldview.