Creative Korean Advertising #3: Making Jinro Soju Cool?
( “JINRO is back. A new generation’s perfect ‘J’ soju, with a new name, new style, and a cooler taste.” Source )
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I have to admit, I was less than impressed when I first heard of Jinro’s launching of its new soju brand “J” via these advertisements with Song Hye-gyo (송혜교) last week: while Korean 20-somethings would undoubtedly be the largest consumers of soju anywhere, this is the first soju brand that I’m aware of to be explicitly marketed to that age group, and so one might reasonably have expected something fresh and original in the way of advertising. Instead, Jinro chose to design posters that wouldn’t have looked out of place hanging up in Korean bars when I came here 8 years ago.
Sure, the first one may have been a little too risqué back then perhaps, but then it’s hardly revolutionary or innovative for 2008, and indeed there seem to have been a spate of ones featuring women’s breasts like that in Korea since these “Bikini Phone” ads came out in June. None of the three can exactly be described as presenting confident and sexually assertive images of women either…which is not exactly a given in Korean advertising, true, but it is strange in the specific context of soju advertisements as a whole, as most companies have indeed begun to do so in recent years to increase soju’s appeal to women (including Jinro itself), and which I’ve argued have been so influential as to have had at least some role in Korean women’s increasingly liberal standards of dress.
But then I saw these commercials, and they changed my opinion of the marketing completely. Make sure to watch them full size:
Don’t get me wrong: I still personally think that Soju tastes like paint-thinner, and the first thing that comes to mind when I hear the term are the scores of middle-aged men passed out every weekday afternoon in front of convenience stores all over Korea. But, if given the unenviable task of somehow making soju cool, then I’m not sure that any domestic or international advertising agency could have made a better start than that first commercial in particular.
(On a side note, neither do any harm to Song Hye-gyo’s still rather elegant personal brand either, usually quite a problem for Korean stars)
Continuing the innovative marketing techniques, Jinro hired German 3d street-artists Manfred Strader and Edgar Müller for the launching event in front of COEX Shopping Mall in Seoul last week. Here are the results:
( Source. As you can see below, the effect is best when viewed through the fish-eye lens on the right)
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For many more images, see here, and for more on Strader and Müller themselves, see their website here. Here’s hoping that Jinro Soju’s aging producers of advertising posters step aside gracefully and let these Young Turks take over in print media too!
(For all posts in my “Creative Korean Advertising” series, see here)
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“While Korean 20-somethings would undoubtedly be the largest consumers of soju anywhere…”
Really? I was under the impression it was more of an “ajusshi” drink. All of the 20-something Koreans I’ve been around have been beer drinkers. I wonder if there’s any data on this somewhere.
Alex,
you have a point. I wrote that sentence more because I wanted to convey the fact that having no soju advertisements targeted at them previously doesn’t mean that they haven’t always drunk it like fish anyway, so perhaps I should have chosen my words more carefully.
Having said that, I’m not at all sure that 20-somethings are great beer drinkers. Certainly those in their early 20s would probably be, almost exclusively relying on their parents for drinking and food money everyday, and so I’d imagine that when they just wanted to get drunk quickly they’d probably choose a cheap bottle of soju rather than a few beers, which would take longer and end up costing the same anyway. And then once they graduate and then have a job then of course they can drink what they like.
That’s just speculation on my part: at 32, it’s been a long time since I’ve hung out with Koreans in their early or mid-20s! I still think you’re quite right that ajosshis would drink the most soju, but I also think that even early-20 somethings would drink quite a bit, and certainly much more than their parents might think!
If I have time I’ll try to find some statistics on alcohol consumption this weekend or next.
my observations (and sadly, yes, I have recently spent time drinking with 20-something college students . . . please don’t ask) lead me to believe that they do on the whole tilt towards beer and cocktails, but there’s still a pretty non-negligible amount of soju consumption. Larger gatherings tend to have a mix of soju and beer available, especially for making poktanju. And cocktail soju is very popular among female college students as a cheap alternative to more expensive liquor and cocktails, but with fewer calories than beer. But I’ve seen very little (exclusive) soju consumption among women or smaller groups.
Hey! I saw them painting that a few weeks ago at Coex and wondered what was going on. Nice to see the finished version.
Also, 20-somethings certainly *do* drink their share of soju, albeit only in certain sitautions and probably largely because – as GG said – it’s cheaper. I’m not talking about street corner Ministops or whatever but if you think of the amount of soju that is drunk at every MT, in every semester, by all the departments, at all the universities, then I’d bet it would add up. Add up to a lot.
Still smells like nail polish remover to me tho …
My, I do have some night owls reading my blog! I’m a morning person myself, or at least I was many years ago, but these days after 10pm when I get home is the only time my wife and I have to spend time with each other and/or I get to work on the blog with no interruptions! With my second daughter now in the picture, I confess that it’s usually the latter nowadays, but with my 2 year-old first daughter always waking up at 6am I’m still always faced with the dilemma of doing what I want to or what I should do, which is catching up on badly-needed sleep. I try to think of my fans (sic!) and so usually I do write, but you all might be less than impressed if you met my half-dead form in person!
Melissa, do you find the same with trying to rearrange your life around Hayden’s sleeping habits? And…ahem…back to the post topic, I was wondering if you (or anyone) has ever seen any art like that in Korea before? It’s not an earth-shattering difference either way (no pun intended), but if not then it would make Jinro’s marketing even more original (for Korea).
Gomushin Girl, if I can admit to buying Cosmo and Vogue for my research, then you can admit to drinking with college students for the sake of yours too!
Actually I sometimes used to go out with them myself when I taught students that age, and although they could certainly be immature and/or get boring eventually, I have to admit that I can still think of worse things to do than spending an hour in a bar with attractive, flirtatious 21 year-old women all too easily impressed with my Korean ability…
I can vouch that Korean accountants drink plenty of Soju and they seem to prefer it to other drinks although the most common reason is that “Beer makes my tummy full.” I don’t mind Soju myself, as long as it is relatively cool. Once it hits room temperature it’s pretty vile but I’d take it any day over the vast quantities of whiskey I am compelled to drink while “entertaining clients”…
I never considered that. My favorite drink is a Black Russian myself, but I always had it with Coke until served the vodka chilled one day at a Spanish restaurant. From that day forth until my first daughter was born the only things I had in my freezer were vodka and coffee, although I could still never drink vodka the vodka by itself.
But whiskey without Coke? I think I’d quit my job!
[...] of the evolution of the Chamisul brand. The Grand Narrative is, of course, the go-to place for soju ad blogging. This was written by Korea Beat. Posted on Wednesday, March 25, 2009, at 7:22 am. Filed under . [...]
[...] Accordingly, as alcohol levels in soju continue to fall it is shedding its image as a stiff drink, and women can enjoy it worry-free as it changes into a soft alcohol. Last November the "Asian consumer intelligence" site Five by Fifty looked at the launch of J and put together a neat graphic of the evolution of the Chamisul brand. The Grand Narrative is, of course, the go-to place for soju ad blogging. [...]