Lotte Confectionery Hires Idol-Level Popular 'Faker'
World Cone Ad Online Buzz Exceeds 3.5 Million Views
Global Sports Brands Like Nike and Puma Also Involved
Lotte Hotel Hosts 'Fortress Daejeon' at L7 Gangnam
[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] Even when all professional sports games such as baseball, soccer, and basketball were not held due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the only professional league that continued was 'eSports.' eSports, which gained popularity mainly among the MZ generation (a combination of Millennials and Generation Z), has become highly valued in industries such as distribution, food, and hotels.
According to the distribution industry on the 10th, the advertisement video for the famous pro gamer 'Faker' version of 'World Cone' released by Lotte Confectionery last month surpassed 3.5 million online buzz views as of the previous day. The teaser video for the World Cone advertisement uploaded on Faker's personal YouTube channel also recorded 150,000 views. Although there were many internal concerns about hiring a pro gamer as the main model, consumer response continued positively.
Faker, a representative star in the eSports world, is a professional gamer of the game 'League of Legends (LoL)' and belongs to 'T1,' SK Telecom's eSports specialized company. He enjoys idol singer-level popularity among the 10-20 age group and has 996,000 YouTube subscribers. This year, Faker signed marketing collaboration contracts not only with World Cone but also with sports brand 'Nike' and BMW Group's 'BMW.' The sportswear brand 'Puma' also signed a partnership agreement with the eSports company 'Gen.G' on the 9th. As part of joint marketing, the 'Puma X Gen.G Uniform' will be introduced for the first time at the '2020 Woori Bank League of Legends Champions Korea' Summer Split opening on the 17th.
Casual games other than eSports are also popular. SPC Group's 'Dunkin' partnered with Line Friends in April to launch donut products using the mobile game 'Brawl Stars,' which is popular among elementary school students. Customers who purchase products worth more than 10,000 won, including Brawl Stars donuts, can also purchase jangusan (umbrella) goods. Casual fashion brand 'Slow Acid' collaborated with major game company Nexon to release 'Crazy Racing KartRider' collaboration clothing at the online fashion select shop 'Musinsa.' Pulmuone also collaborated with the cooking simulation game 'My Little Chef' to enable enjoying 'Pulmuone Soup Tteokbokki' through an online-offline (O2O) linked method.
Lotte Hotel Seoul's 'L7 Hotel Gangnam' is holding a unique event in conjunction with the mobile game 'Fortress M.' The 'Aprogen Games Fortress M L7 Game Night,' a game battle enjoyed in each hotel room, is scheduled for the 27th. After a 50-room knockout tournament, the finals will also be held. The finals will be conducted in a non-face-to-face manner from the quarterfinals onward in four suites specially arranged as tournament venues, with a best-of-three format for the quarterfinals and semifinals, and a best-of-five format for the finals.
The game industry has been growing annually, fueled by the popularity of eSports. Additionally, with the COVID-19 issue, it is analyzed as an 'untact' (contactless) specialized industry at this time. According to the 2020 first quarter BSI (Business Survey Index) of the Culture, Sports and Tourism Trend Survey, the game sector recorded 75.2 in the first quarter, down 14.8 points from the previous quarter but up 12.6 points compared to the same period last year. During the same period, the cultural industry, a higher category including games, recorded 53.6 in the first quarter, down 39.1 points and 24.5 points compared to the previous quarter and the same period last year, respectively.
Kim Ji-hak, Deputy Senior Specialist of the Statistics Management Team at the Statistics Information Center of the Korea Culture and Tourism Institute, said, "Due to COVID-19, the time spent at home has increased, which seems to have led to an increase in mobile app and game usage time," adding, "COVID-19 did not have a relatively large impact on this industry."
Choi Mo-se, team leader at Daehong Communications who produced the Lotte Confectionery World Cone advertisement, explained, "For the MZ generation, eSports is entertainment and mainstream culture beyond professional baseball and soccer enjoyed by previous generations," and added, "Especially as a non-face-to-face leisure activity, it is highly noteworthy at this time, and the MZ generation is a generation with very high marketing responsiveness, so we view it positively."
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