Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

As the issue on plastic wastes is receiving worldwide attention, various domestic companies are conducting ESG campaigns. Examples include using tumblers at workplace, saving papers, and reducing carbon. However, since such these campaigns are rather one-way and message-oriented, consumers are not actually aware of ESG campaigns. Accordingly, KB Kookmin Card has up-cycled discarded plastic cards to launch a sincere campaign as a credit card company. Furthermore, total profits generated from sales of the product on the online commerce platform were donated to eco-friendly organization. This was intended to allow consumers to voluntarily participate in entertaining eco-friendly activities.

Background

Due to recent COVID-19, the severity of plastic wastes is aggravating worldwide as the use of disposable products has soared. Amid these issues, as a credit card company, KB Kookmin Card paid attention to 8 million-discarded plastic cards that are thrown way every year. As a result, we considered the way to up-cycle discarded plastic cards in order to voluntarily draw the sympathy and interest from customers, instead of delivering a simple one-time message.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

We produced the eco-friendly board game called Yellow Edition (Yellow Edition uses yellow, the brand color and the meaning of warning on environmental protection) using discarded plastic cards. This is because many board games we enjoy playing included card-shaped components. The components of the board game that cannot be made with plastic credit cards were made of eco-friendly materials, such as recycled papers and woods, to be more meaningful.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

The campaign idea was based on the Korean trend. 1. Ethical Consumption With the spread of “ethical consumption (the trend of consuming products considering social values including environment, neighborhood, world, region, and health)”, MZ generation in Korea prefer products with good meaning. Accordingly, companies are launching collaborative products with good meanings. Therefore, as a credit card company, we attempted to create a new product by up-cycling discarded plastic cards. 2. Home-Ludens While COVID-19 changed daily lives, the trend of “Home-Ludens” is rising, finding joy at home than outdoors. Consequently, the board game’s popularity rapidly increased. Instead of providing the existing product as an event, we sold the special edition. To this end, 365 products were sold at popular shopping malls among the MZ generation, and profits were donated to environmental organizations. This created a ‘virtuous cycle structure’ of [plastic recycling▶Yellow Edition production▶donation to environmental organizations▶continuous environmental protection activities].

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

We produced the eco-friendly board game ‘Yellow Edition’ by collaborating with “Blue Marble” (Korean version of ‘Monopoly’), the major board game brand. While maintaining most of the credit card’s original form, IC chips and magnetic stripes were removed to prevent security problems, which became the unique design of Yellow Edition. In addition, it was sold on 11th Street, a large-scale commerce platform in Korea, for successful sales and promotion of the made product. Furthermore, prior to its sales, the launching campaign video(30s) was advertised to promote the campaign, and it became more meaningful by donating the profits to environmental organization. After the completion of the donation, a case video of the campaign’s serial process was created to boost the 2nd advertisement campaign.

List the results (30% of vote)

Yellow Edition’s launching campaign video has reached a total of 4,862,870 views, while the view count is steadily increasing. It was ranked 2nd in real-time search on shopping sites, and was sold out in 32 seconds upon its launch. Yellow Edition was highly valuated, as it was re-sold at a price of about 10 times the regular price on major second-hand deal platform. We conducted a survey on perception change to campaign participants, and the outcome was amazing. The participants’ awareness of eco-friendliness increased by 89% compared to the pre-campaign, and brand preference on KB Kookmin Card that conducted the campaign also increased by 90% compared to the pre-campaign. As such, we have changed many people’s perception through Yellow Edition, and a total of 10,950 discarded plastic cards were up-cycled. In recognition of these accomplishments, it was referred as the excellent example at CJ ENM’s environmental conference.

Please tell us how the brand purpose inspired the work

Discarded plastic flowing into the sea not only destroys the sea ecosystem, but we also consume microplastics equal to the quantity of one credit card every week through water or seafood. The campaign aims to raise awareness of the plastic waste issue that is drawing worldwide attention. However, rather than simply implanting one-way message, it was intended to make consumers participate in eco-friendly activities more actively and entertainingly. In the process, the awareness on eco-friendliness of campaign participants increased by 89%, as well as the interest in eco-friendly products, and the brand image of KB Kookmin Card changed in a positive way.