Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

Korean Tourism Marketing could not use the message ‘Visits Korea’ due to COVID-19 situation. Thus, we established a strategy to make people across the world experience the excitement of South Korea by online videos, without actually visiting. This campaign incorporated hidden gem sites and cultural assets of Korea rather than showing well-known landmarks, along with unique hip-hop music collaborations which reinterpreted Korea’s folk songs <Minyo>. Thus, we could imprint positive images of Korean tourism to numerous foreigners even during this pandemic period.

Background

As traveling has been hindered due to the continuing pandemic, we needed to establish a strategy different from the general tourism communication that usually induced people to visit the country. Thus, we aimed to develop an impactful campaign so that foreigners remind of Korea as the priority when covid-19 ends and travel resumes. In a limited situation where social distancing is implemented and face-to-face communication becomes difficult, online content is almost the only way to deliver the charm of Korea across the world. So the main purpose of this campaign is focusing on interesting music and unique locations from 12 different cities rather than showing famous landmarks. We used the hip-hop version of Korean traditional folk music <Minyo>, which was unfamiliar to foreigners, as the BGM, and sought to arouse interest through creating a scene of daily life of people, showing hidden sites of Korea and its particular cultural features.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Instead of simply showing famous landmarks of Korea in the video, we planned the 10 series of tourist contents that highlights characteristics of each city [Daegu, Andong/Gyeongju, Suncheon, Seoul, Seosan, Busan/Tongyeong, Gangneung/Yangyang, Mokpo, Jeonju] It attracts attention by collaborating with 10 different Korean hip-hop artists who reinterpreted Korean traditional folk songs with the breathtaking cinematography of hidden sites of Korea, and tried to catch the eyes by showing cultural heritages that are less familiar to foreigners. We settled concepts for each city and produced songs that matched the characteristics to edit and create videos. As ‘Minyo(Korean traditional folk song)’ was unfamiliar to foreigners, many foreigners showed deep interest in it, and through the epic scene of the video directions, we were able to receive reviews as a government-made video that does not seem like that.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Basically, our target were people in the world who dream of traveling after COVID-19. In order to create a brand new type of tourism content to attract them, we conducted a consumer trend analysis. We were able to confirm that for the global MZ generation they are more acceptant to embrace broaden cultural content. To deliver the Korean excitement through online content, we continued a theme called ‘Feel the Rhythm of Korea’ and produced a music video format video on the trendy version of Korean traditional folk song and hidden locations of Korea. The locations we showed in the video were very rare to see (even for Korean), so people who watched the video were so much interested in them. We utilized online platforms (YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, etc) mostly used by the MZ generation, the main target of the travel industry, to create voluntary viral.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

“Feel the Rhythm of Korea Season” series(10 videos) were produced in the form of a music video with different concepts according to the characteristics of each city (ex. traditional city, foreshore city, the capital city, etc.). The artists who are from hip-hop labels of Korea reinterpreted traditional folk songs, which were used as the BGM, and the video scenes showed around each citys’ hidden spots and introduced traditional Korean games and cultural assets to trigger the interests of Korea. The 10 videos received attention by using composed music and customized concepts of cities as subjects, while considering the MZ generation, the main target of the travel market, and was executed via global online media (YT, IG, FB, TIKTOK, etc.) during the on-air period [2021.09.09 ~ 2021.12.08]

List the results (30% of vote)

Through our campaign, Korea Tourism Organization was able to communicate effectively with a global audience. We have recorded total views of 660 million, with 52.78% of VTR (View-through rate). In other words, as we specified 10 different videos of series to match our targets’ interest, we could make people have a more immersive experience into the content. In addition, we have resulted in a total of 160 million engagements by our global audience through Facebook and Instagram posts. Moreover, our project ranked the No.1 YouTube trending video and reported on the domestic and global online news. Through this campaign, Korean tourism raised "awareness" by 61.7%, "preference" by 64.4%, and "recommendation intention" by 81.3%.

Please tell us about the cultural insight that inspired the work

Most tourists who visit Korea normally tend to travel only to Seoul which is the capital of Korea, so we had to consider how to promote non-popular cities in Korea and find charming points of each city. Our best case was Seosan. Seosan is a city located in Korea’s western coastal regions of South Jeolla Province. It has vast mudflats but above all, it was an area with a tradition of digging clams by riding a Korean traditional cultivator called "Geyong-ungi" to the tidal flat. We combined this culture with the movie Mad Max to create a new video of the view of the countryside nature and the people living there. For natives, it's just daily life, but we got the insight that it could be a breathtaking scene for global tourists around the world.