The Korean market was Culturelle’s way of dipping its toes into Asia. From introducing social media campaigns to redesigning their website, Culturelle tried everything to connect to the Korean demographic but somehow kept missing the mark. We were tasked with identifying the missing piece to the puzzle and coming up with a creative solution. Like a whiff of kimchi, the stronger the smell (AKA the harder the challenge), the better the flavor (AKA the greater the reward). In our case, the challenge was understanding the culture; the creative solution was gift packaging for the Korean holiday season; and the reward was success in this new market.
It is not enough to just speak the language of the culture you are marketing to – you have to connect to their love language: for Korea, this is family, beauty and gifting. Science is boring, and their love language was the perfect way to make it fun. We did not view the challenge as just a packaging opportunity, but a rebranding opportunity to explain the benefits of their LGG strain probiotic science supporting their health in a very simple, funny, cute, and easy-to-understand way. The packaging was designed to look like a home and included adorable “first edition” collectable tablet form characters that represented a typical family. We took the fun a step further and introduced the characters to Korea via social media using comic book illustrations.
Making science fun isn’t an exact science. Understanding Korean culture and the importance of premium packaging, especially during the holiday season, allowed us to tell Culturelle’s brand story and increase brand awareness with 1.2+ million impressions, 21k+ post engagement, and sales by 200% in a new market.
