[Marketing Strategy] Targeting Women in Their 20s and 30s with Short-Form Content... Underwear Sales Soar

Kim Taesu, Kkoneya CEO
Sales Soar 8x Thanks to Short-Form Word of Mouth
Advertising ROI Increases 12x with Marketing Channel Placement

"The overall quality of products in the women's underwear industry has become uniformly elevated. It has become extremely important to market based on appropriate content that resonates with the customer base."

Kim Taesu, CEO of the women's underwear brand 'Kkoneya,' emphasized the importance of content marketing in an interview with Asia Economy. Kkoneya's main customers are women in their 20s and 30s, who frequently encounter content on social networking services (SNS) like Instagram. CEO Kim is always thinking about how to incorporate the ways customers enjoy content into commerce.

Kim Tae-su, CEO of Kkoneya. [Photo by Kkoneya]

CEO Kim actively utilized short-form content to promote products. Kkoneya's off-shoulder bra product, 'Elizabet Off-Shoulder,' has the advantage of not slipping down even during intense activity. To promote this, they participated in the trending 'Run Run Challenge' on short-form platforms. The Run Run Challenge is a challenge where participants imitate part of the choreography from the song 'RUN RUN' by the dance crew 'Proudmen' and the singer-songwriter group Ras, characterized by running in place.

The results of marketing using content appeared immediately. The monthly sales of Elizabet Off-Shoulder were only about 100 units right after launch, but after the challenge video was uploaded, sales surged to around 700 to 800 units per month. CEO Kim explained, "Instead of verbally explaining the product's strengths, we were able to effectively show that the product stays stable and does not slip even when worn and running fast."

CEO Kim also has expertise in producing content for marketing purposes. He co-operates 'Studio Gray,' a content company that professionally produces photos, detail pages, and marketing videos used in e-commerce. Since 2019, he has collaborated with Kkoneya on product photography and content production, and recently acquired the Kkoneya brand to manage it directly.

The effectiveness of marketing was also reflected in numbers. Marketing content produced by Kkoneya was strategically placed across multiple channels, improving the return on ad spend (ROAS) up to 1200%. Annual sales also reached 2 billion KRW. Kkoneya collaborates with Cafe24 Marketing Center, which is responsible for placing marketing content across various channels.

CEO Kim said, "Since acquiring the Kkoneya brand, we have continued cooperation with Cafe24 Marketing Center in marketing to create synergistic effects," adding, "They helped a lot by monitoring various marketing channel statuses, adjusting costs to improve efficiency, and advising on the timing of promotional events on sales channels like Ably and Zigzag."

Kkoneya plans to continue efforts to create products that are both beautiful and comfortable in terms of product quality. CEO Kim said, "We are continuously researching and improving our flagship products like corset bras," adding, "The recent trend in the underwear market is 'comfort,' but Kkoneya plans to differentiate its lineup by not settling for just comfort but focusing on fit and adding various functionalities."

Based on the successful formula in Korea, Kkoneya plans to actively target overseas markets. In particular, they plan to attract local women in their 20s and 30s in the Chinese market through content marketing using TikTok. CEO Kim expressed confidence, saying, "I believe Korean content is a bit trendier than Chinese content in the content commerce sector, so we expect to achieve good results in China as well."