Star marketing, which had slowed for a while, is gaining traction again in the dining and food industries. In the past, it was limited to boosting brand awareness through TV ads, but recently it has evolved into fandom marketing that drives actual purchases by combining photocards, bromides, and fan events.
According to the food industry on the 1st, Domino's Pizza selected girl group Lecerise, which achieved a resurgence this year, as its brand model and ran a promotion giving out photocards and bromides. Some stores quickly ran out of merchandise, reportedly confirming the purchasing power of the fandom. Papa John's has continued its exclusive model contract with girl group Ive for four years, and No More Pizza unveiled actor Jeon Ji-hyun as its new face. Banolim Pizza is pushing short-form-centered marketing fronted by actor Ji Ye-eun.
Chicken brand BBQ chose Felix of boy group Stray Kids as its global model, and Lotte Wellfood(280360) is expanding its global Pepero campaign with Stray Kids. Samyang Foods(003230) is also running a Buldak global campaign with boy group ENHYPEN to target overseas fandoms.
Industry officials say the nature of star marketing is changing from the past. Whereas the goal used to be boosting brand awareness by featuring famous celebrities, the focus now is on tying highly loyal fandoms to actual purchases. A pizza industry official said, "Girl group models have such strong fandoms that they positively affect sales, and compared with a single model, having multiple members allows for a variety of marketing content."
A food industry official said, "We are linking sales and marketing by offering merchandise that can be received only by purchasing specific menu items promoted by the model or by encouraging social media (SNS) verification," adding, "We are seeing many consumer reactions like, 'I used to eat another brand, but now I'll eat the brand this model promotes.' The influence of fandoms has grown."
The criteria for selecting models are changing as well. In the past, brands preferred top stars who appealed to all generations, but lately there is a trend of valuing stars who can create buzz on short-form platforms, memes, and social media (SNS) more highly. The center of marketing is shifting to a method that, combined with photocards, bromides, and fan events, induces fans to voluntarily purchase products and post verification on SNS. Lecerise is a representative case in which it secured broad public recognition with the so-called "Geoje yaho" meme and then received a flurry of calls from advertisers.
Behind the expansion of this kind of fandom marketing lies intensified competition amid a prolonged downturn. As consumers have been reluctant to open their wallets, brands have competed with discounts and coupons, but as similar promotions repeated, the differentiating effect gradually weakened. In this situation, stars with highly loyal fandoms are emerging as a new means of drawing customers.
Lee Jong-woo, a professor in the department of distribution marketing at Namseoul University, said, "As in the past, simply hiring top stars with high recognition makes it hard to expect purchase conversion effects," adding, "Recently, it has become important to set idols with fandoms as models and then combine follow-up marketing such as merchandise and events to make consumers participate proactively."
However, fandom marketing is not a cure-all strategy. Lee said, "Fandom marketing can attract attention at the outset, but ultimately it is product competitiveness that keeps consumers," adding, "You need to create differentiated menus and brand experiences together to lead to long-term results."