Digging is called excessive immersion by investing time, money, and passion in what you like, and recently, Digging has become a major trend in the Korean MZ generation, and more and more people are enjoying it as a play.
Digging is not a new trend, and has long been used to refer to certain people who are too immersed in Japanese animation, such as Deokhu/Otaku. The new thing is that the recent digging is not limited to one area, but has expanded to 'digging' for lifestyle as a whole. Digging is now considered a hobby that adds vitality to one's life, and it is increasingly characterized by the desire of all generations regardless of age.
Another characteristic of 'digging' is that diggers are willing to spend money on their interests and hobbies, and actively communicate with people with the same interests, not just by themselves. In particular, as non-face-to-face relationships spread through the pandemic and everyone pursued different lifestyles according to the values pursued by individuals, people preferred to communicate online based on their interests rather than physical relationships. This has made the online community more influential. As information about their interests and word-of-mouth about brands that match their values spread rapidly through the community, it is becoming more important for brands to market their individual interests in detail. So, let's take a look at how brands and tech platforms are responding to these diversified individual interests.
Brand community representing consumer values - Toun 28
ⓒToun28
Toun28 is an eco-friendly brand that releases various types of wash bars and shampoo bars without plastic containers to practice less plastic, and is known as a brand that is eco-friendly and sincere by using simple paper packages. In addition, it is recognized as a brand that represents and acts the value of consumers who are interested in 'green' by recruiting crews at the brand level and carrying out regular environmental protection activities with consumers under the slogan 'ACT FOR CHANGE'.
Commercialization of Interest Community - Today's House
ⓒ오늘의 집
"Today's House," which started as an interior information sharing community, has evolved into an "interior content platform" due to the production of contents by users, and has grown into an e-commerce platform through "Today's House Store" as the number of users has soared. Recently, today's House is running a "Today's House Curator" service that gives 1.5% of the sales as consumer rewards when the product is sold at "Today's House" within 24 hours after sharing the interior content that users like on SNS. If you've shared your lifestyle through social media, you can now apply a direct revenue model to that activity. If today's home users have shared their lifestyles through social media, they can now apply a direct profit model to their activities. This is to leverage the viral influence that plays a major role within the same community of interests, and it is seen as a marketing strategy that allows various contents of today's house to be introduced through influencers and lead to consumer purchases.
Big Tech Companies Expand Community Services - Naver, Kakao
ⓒNaver
As individual tastes and interests change, the importance of interest-based communities is increasing. In line with this trend, Korean big tech companies are also undergoing many reorganizations to revitalize community services. Naver has opened Open Talk and Issue Talk in the sports arena to provide a space for sports fans with common interests to communicate freely. It first started the service in September last year, and it is said that the Open Talk, which was operated during the Qatar World Cup in December, has achieved such a great result that 2.78 million people gathered. It has grown rapidly into an online community where many users who are interested in certain sports gather, with 920 baseball-related open talks.
ⓒKakao
Kakao is also strengthening its community function through the 'Open Chat' service. Unlike regular KakaoTalk chat, open chat refers to an anonymous community where you can chat with an unspecified number of people based on various topics. If it has been limited to specific interests such as residential areas/interests, starting this year, the open chat function will be further strengthened so that communication can be activated on a variety of topics, including dramas, movies, cooking, songs, and large-scale events. With the strengthening of personal information protection amid the diversification of customer interests, big tech companies are actively building business models linking advertising and commerce businesses, focusing communities with clear interests as new growth engines. Interest in the community of interest that will become more important this year!
Comentários