Park Kwang-gyu, a Professional Manager (PM) in the Brand Marketing Team of SK Energy P&M CIC, who has been with the company for nine years, heads straight to a bar in Jongno, Seoul as soon as he finishes work. He is busy checking if customers have any inconveniences or if they need anything else. The place is called ‘SK Juyuso (SK Liquor Station)’. Following the first branch opened last October in Cheonggyecheon, Seoul, the second branch opened in Ulsan in July this year, and the third branch opened this month. For one month of operation, they sell alcohol instead of fuel. The main drinks are beer and highball, and all profits are donated. “Is this really something SK is doing?” is the most frequently asked question.
When I met PM Park at SK Juyuso on the 20th, he said, “I hope everyone who comes here leaves with bright and happy energy.” The space, decorated in red and orange?the colors of the SK logo’s happiness wings?is filled with attractions reminiscent of an SK gas station.
At the electric vehicle and gasoline pump models, beer is dispensed, and ginger ale comes out of the hydrogen car charger pump. To evoke the feeling of the top market share oil company, a tanker truck model, a key part of the logistics system, was installed, and drum-shaped seats reminiscent of oil barrels were placed at every table.
SK Juyuso was born from his idea. “Why don’t oil companies do fun marketing?” he had wondered since his rookie days. “Gas stations are annoying places you go to just to fill up fuel. What if the experience of fueling was made fun and connected to small happiness? It would be fun if alcohol or drinks came out of the fuel pump instead of fuel.”
He had been envisioning this idea since working for seven years in the gas station sales management department. After moving to the brand marketing team last year, he first brought it up at a team dinner. “I mentioned it casually in a relaxed atmosphere, and the team leader said it was fun and suggested we make it happen, so we immediately pushed forward.” PM Park reported directly to the top management and received immediate approval. SK Energy has a corporate culture where good business ideas are face-to-face reported to executives regardless of rank. It took only five months from PM Park’s idea to the opening of the first SK Juyuso.
The refining industry is actively working to shed the stiff image of fuel stations and inject youthful sensibility. The target is the potential customers in their 20s and 30s. HD Hyundai Oilbank changed its gas station design for the first time in 23 years, and S-Oil is targeting young people with a fuel drop character called ‘Gudoil.’
SK Energy is the first to create a space for direct communication with customers. It is rare in large corporations for an individual’s idea to be nurtured and immediately commercialized. “A small idea I dreamed of is realized with company-level support. It’s not that I’m boasting, but the process itself is a very precious experience. It feels like a life project to the extent that I wonder when else in my life I will have such an experience.”
Since it was a project supported by the company, he felt he had to do it well rather than just work hard. Around the time of opening SK Juyuso, he was tormented by nightmares. “I had nightmares about the store having no customers and woke up at 2 or 3 a.m. I couldn’t sleep again and went to work...”
He works here every day, even giving up weekends, but the reward outweighs the hardship. “Even though my body is tired, I get energy from customers’ positive reactions to SK Juyuso. I just hope customers choose SK Juyuso first and think of SK with joy.”
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