Global Influencers Gather in Seoul... Influencer Expo 'SeoulCon' Held

4 Fields 28 Programs

At the end of this month, 3,000 influencer teams from over 50 countries around the world will visit Seoul. They are scheduled to participate in the world’s first and largest influencer expo, ‘2023 SEOULCon.’ The city plans to establish SEOULCon as a global expo and elevate Seoul as the ‘hub city of the one-person media industry.’

The Seoul Business Agency (SBA) announced that it will hold the world’s first and largest influencer expo, ‘2023 SEOULCon,’ for three days from December 30 to January 1 next year.

Through hosting ‘2023 SEOULCon,’ the Seoul Business Agency aims to create a turning point for the global spread of Seoul’s culture and lifestyle, laying the foundation for the overseas expansion of K-content and the export of Seoul products abroad. According to the Tokyo Trade Office in Japan, in 2022, Korea accounted for 23.4% of Japan’s total cosmetics imports, surpassing France, a traditional cosmetics powerhouse, to become the top importing country. This is the result of the influence of K-content, which is strong among Japan’s MZ generation, translating into sales of beauty products.

‘2023 SEOULCon’ was planned to seize the lead in the ‘creative industry,’ which produces goods and services based on creativity and intellectual capital, and to secure dominance in the one-person media industry market. In particular, it plans to actively utilize the influence of one-person media (influencers), who are at the core of the creative industry producing ‘content,’ in the industry.

Starting on the 30th, ‘2023 SEOULCon’ will feature a total of 28 diverse programs across four fields: festival, conference, content·fashion·beauty, and performance·entertainment, making it a festival where influencers, followers, and citizens can all enjoy together. Notably, six influencers will wear hanbok and participate in the New Year’s Eve bell-ringing ceremony to add significance to the event. Among them, three have special ties to Korea, such as naturalized Koreans, Korean descendants, or those married to Koreans.

Leveraging its long experience in operating support programs for small and medium enterprises, the Seoul Business Agency plans to introduce ‘influencer business matching’ to develop ‘2023 SEOULCon’ into the world’s largest ‘one-person media industry expo,’ not just a one-time event ending this year.

Kim Hyun-woo, CEO of the Seoul Business Agency, said, “Through 2023 SEOULCon, I hope people around the world will dream of ‘welcoming the New Year in Seoul.’ We will successfully hold the event so that Seoul becomes an attractive city that people want to visit and emulate, and SEOULCon can be a springboard toward becoming a leading city in the ‘one-person media’ trend and business.”