3D Emoticons for 250,000 Users Sold Out in 15 Minutes
Everland Collaboration Product Also Sold 4,000 Units in 2 Weeks
Welcoming the Year of the Blue Dragon, Gapjin Year, the official character of Yongin City, Gyeonggi Province, 'Joayang' is soaring in popularity. Surpassing the popularity of many commercial characters, its emoticons sold out quickly, and character merchandise is flying off the shelves.
According to Yongin City on the 9th, the third edition of Joayang's KakaoTalk 3D emoticons, produced and distributed for free by the city on the 5th, sold out all 250,000 units within just 15 minutes.
Lee Sang-il, Mayor of Yongin (fourth from the left), along with Yongin city officials and Everland executives and employees, are taking a commemorative photo with Resi and Jo Ayong at the entrance of Everland. [Photo by Yongin City]
Joayang is a character shaped like a dragon, the symbol of Yongin City. These emoticons, distributed on a first-come, first-served basis to those who registered Yongin City's KakaoTalk channel as a friend, consist of 16 types and can be used for free for 30 days.
The 3D emoticons are characterized by their humorous and lovable expressions under the theme "Joayang did Joayang." They amusingly depict various everyday emotions and situations such as "New Year's greeting Joayang," "Fitness Joayang fired up with determination," "Homebody Joayang," "Cold because of snow Joayang," "Diving Joayang," "Well, Joayang," and "Flaming Joayang."
The city has been producing and distributing Joayang emoticons annually, receiving positive responses from citizens. Last July, a similar emoticon distribution event saw all 270,000 units sold out within 28 minutes.
Character merchandise is also popular. At the end of last year, the city collaborated with Everland, a leading local company, to release products featuring Everland's popular character 'Resi (Lesser Panda),' which sold over 4,000 units in just two weeks.
The character merchandise featuring Joayang and Resi includes a total of 42 items such as plush dolls featuring both characters together, cushions, key holders, badges, bags, hats, socks, hairbands, and hand towels. According to Everland, the plush magnet product showing Joayang and Resi hugging each other is especially popular, with about 1,000 units sold.
Lee Sang-il, Mayor of Yongin (second from the right), is looking around the Joa-yong and Resi collaboration character products at the Everland souvenir shop. [Photo by Yongin City]
Everland initially planned to sell the collaborative character products at six souvenir stores, but due to strong visitor response, the number of sales locations was expanded to 11.
Mayor Lee Sang-il of Yongin City, impressed by Joayang's popularity, personally visited Everland. On the 8th, Mayor Lee visited the souvenir store inside Everland, browsed the character merchandise, exchanged New Year's greetings with visitors, and purchased character products directly at the store.
Before visiting the souvenir store, Mayor Lee held a meeting with Jung Hae-rin, CEO of Samsung C&T, Bae Taek-young, head of the business division, and Kim Hee-jin, park operations team leader, stating, "The character usage fees from product sales have also contributed to increasing tax revenue," and added, "Selling products at Everland, a leading domestic tourist destination, greatly helps raise character awareness."
CEO Jung also said, "Since Yongin City and Everland both have the dragon as their symbol, with Everland opening in 1976, the Year of the Dragon, this year holds great significance," and added, "Developing character merchandise in collaboration with Joayang has not only increased product sales but also brought great joy to visitors."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
