제 16 호 Is ‘Pepero Day’ Just an Enterprise Gimmick?
Kicker : LIFE
Is ‘Pepero Day’ Just an Enterprise Gimmick?
By Yun-Seo Jung, Reporter
Have you ever celebrated anniversaries like ‘Pepero Day’ and ‘White Day’? People usually exchange Pepero on ‘Pepero Day,’ candy on ‘White Day,’ and chocolate on ‘Valentine's Day’ to share their feelings with friends, lovers, or family. Like this, on special days that come back once a year, products such as Pepero, candy, and chocolate are consumed excessively by consumers compared to usual. In addition, companies use special packages to stimulate consumers' consumer sentiment more and sell products more than usual. Through the appearance of such companies, some say that the act of celebrating anniversaries is to be taken in the company's commercial skills, and others say that it is just a day to share friendship and love with the people around them. The marketing of an enterprise that increases the purchase rate of consumers by using anniversaries that return once a year, such as ‘Pepero Day,’ is called ‘Day Marketing.’ Then, what is the effect of 'Day Marketing'?
Exemplification of Day Marketing and Its Effects
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Let's find out through ‘Pepero Day’ and ‘Valentine's Day,’ which are representative success stories of day marketing. The first article to confirm the origin of Pepero Day was from Yonhap News in 1996. In this article, "The phenomenon that teenagers who value their body shape and the new generation exchange gifts wishing to be slim by setting November 11th as “Pepero Day” every year has become a hot topic. It is known to have started at a middle school in the Yeongnam region toward 1993, but the exact origin is unknown, however it is showing signs of becoming popular nationwide." Upon hearing the news, Lotte Confectionery said, "On November 11th every year, inquiries from consumers are flooding in," and, "Next year (1997), we will have to expand production of Pepero for this day." After this, Lotte Confectionery held a free Pepero presentation event on November 11 from the following year, and day marketing began in earnest. Starting with this, November 11th was recognized as a day to give Pepero to each other, and sales of Lotte Confectionery also rose suddenly. From 1983 when Pepero was released to this year (2022), the amount sold reached about 1.5 trillion won, accounting for 87% of Lotte Confectionery's total sales, and more than 60% of its annual sales occur in November around Pepero Day.
Next is Valentine's Day. The origin of Valentine's Day is as follows. Roman legionaries were legally prohibited from getting married. Marriage was possible only with the permission of Emperor Claudis II because there were cases that it caused problems such as deserting because of missing a loved one. Priest Valentinus felt sorry for this and secretly brought the soldiers to the church, officiating and marrying them. However, Priest Valentinus was found guilty of breaking the law and sentenced to death. Therefore, the day to honor Priest Valentinus was set for February 14th, which became today's Valentine's Day. However, Valentine's Day in Korea is known to have been influenced by Japan. In 1936, a Japanese bakery advertised Valentine's Day and chocolate, and it became very popular in Japan. Later in 1960, a Japanese bakery campaigned to encourage women to express their feelings with chocolate on Valentine's Day, creating a Valentine's Day custom in which women present chocolate to men, which flowed into Korea in the mid-1980s.
Day Marketing Failures
While there are anniversaries that come to mind when the date approaches, such as ‘Pepero Day’ and ‘Valentine's Day’ mentioned earlier, there are also failed Day Marketing. Typical examples of Day Marketing failures are Orion's ‘Choco Pie Day’ and ‘Goraebab Day.’ ‘Choco Pie Day’ is October 10th and ‘Goraebab Day’ is December 12th. As you can see from the name and date of the anniversary, we can't think of these two at all. When rival Lotte Confectionery's Pepero Day was successful, Orion Day marketing was conducted to compete with it, but it disappeared without any special results.
Day Marketing, a Double-Edged Sword
As you can see from all of the previously mentioned success and failure cases, Day Marketing needs to match the product, date, related story, and these three beats to gain sympathy from consumers and achieve successful marketing effects. Day Marketing is especially effective for Koreans. According to Chae Jung-min, a professor of counseling psychology at Seoul Cyber University, Koreans value relationships with others, which can be seen as a strong link between celebrating anniversaries and delivering gifts.
We need to have smart consumption habits in relation to active Day Marketing of companies using this psychology of Korean consumers. Don't be deceived with corporate tactics such as plausible stories and fancy limited packages. And companies also need to recognize consumers who are tired of Day Marketing and reduce Day Marketing.
Sources :
https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/001/0004120527?sid=101
https://www.topdaily.kr/articles/82322
