Samyang Buldak

Background

Samyang Foods planned a 'Play Buldak' marketing campaign to expand the global hit product, Spicy Buldak, beyond the 'eating' trend to the center of a culture where users 'play with Buldak' together. Collaborating with campaign ambassadors, '(G)I-DLE,' they created exclusive music and choreography for Spicy Buldak, executing the campaign to explore how strengthening brand awareness and consumer affinity could be impactful to actual offline sales. Utilizing TikTok and Douyin as platforms that provide new trends for diverse users worldwide, and aligning with their unique #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt culture, the campaign was able to optimize Samyang Foods' needs effectively.

Solution

Through TikTok's Branded Effects and Branded Mission, Samyang Foods enabled users to engage more easily and enjoyably. Particularly, they planned to enhance the fun of mission participation by utilizing innovative Branded Effects technology that tracks users' motions in real-time, allowing the official character of Buldak, 'Hochee,' to dance alongside users. Moreover, leveraging the TikTok Creative Exchange program, Samyang Foods spread the trend most effectively through various global creators, streamlining the collaborative process with creators more systematically and swiftly than before.

Also, to comprehensively measure the branding impact of the campaign, they applied the Kantar Ad Effectiveness Study. Furthermore, to validate the increase in actual sales beyond branding, they conducted the Nielsen MVR study. Additionally, to engage with Chinese users, they launched nationwide missions on Douyin, and specifically within the Douyin campaign, they set up an optimal structure by running various banner advertisements even after the mission campaign, aiming to link the mission trend effects through Douyin Shop to actual sales.

Result

As a result, the campaign in seven Asian countries was successfully executed, generating a total of 360M video views and surpassing 50K participating video creations including both TikTok and Douyin. The outstanding engagement and genuine interest from users firmly established the brand's presence, yielding positive results across various aspects of the marketing funnel, including brand awareness, favorability, associations, and purchase intent. Particularly noteworthy were the average 6.9% increase in brand awareness and a significant +10.8% lift in purchase intent among category frequent users of instant ramen, confirming the potential for additional user acquisition within the market Furthermore, thanks to Samyang Foods' effective branding strategy within TikTok, the campaign achieved a remarkable 2.4 higher ROI in terms of offline sales, outperforming other media channels. (South Korea ROI - 1.88, Thailand - ROI - 1.10)