Retailers use popular corporate mascots to attract consumers

Rubber duck floats on Seokchon Lake in Songpa District, eastern Seoul, on Oct. 8. Courtesy of Lotte P&D

By Kim Jae-heun

Retailers are using popular corporate brand mascots to attract consumers, most of whom got used to shopping online for more than two years during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to industry officials Sunday.

Lotte, Shinsegae, Hyundai and others that operate large stores, are introducing various hands-on types of content using corporate brand mascots to increase sales and boost brand awareness.

Lotte Property & Development (Lotte R&D) brought back the popular giant yellow rubber duck to Seoul for the first time in eight years on Sept. 29.

When Lotte first introduced the super-sized inflatable bath toy in Korea in 2014, nearly 5 million people came to see the rubber duck during its month-long visit.

Over 700,000 people have already visited the rubber duck after its introduction on Sept. 29. The retailer is preparing to exhibit Halloween concept rubber ducks at its Lotte World Tower Mall for the first time.

Lotte Homeshopping's giant pink bear character Puuvilla is installed in front of Lotte World Tower in Seoul on April 4. Yonhap

Lotte Homeshopping has created its own corporate brand mascot called Belly Gom, which instantly grabbed people's attention, acquiring 1.2 million followers on its social media account. When it was first introduced in front of Lotte World Tower Mall in April last year, over 3.25 million people paid a visit to look at the country's largest pink bear character. The company also opened pop-up stores and an art exhibition utilizing Belly Gom.

Last month, the home-shopping firm sent Belly Gom to New York to install it at the popular touristic site known as Pier 17 in Manhattan.

“After many of the quarantine COVID-19 measures have been eased, Lotte has been working to bring back what people enjoyed before the pandemic. We focused on attracting customers mainly and thought that adopting brand mascot marketing was the most effective way. We are seeing an increasing number of customers visiting our stores after the return of the rubber duck recently,” a Lotte Homeshopping official said.

Shinsegae also introduced a 17-meter tall bear called Puuvilla on the root top of its Art & Science building in Daejeon celebrating the first anniversary of the character. It also introduced non-fungible tokens related to many animal characters on an outdoor screen for visitors to purchase.

“Brand mascot marketing is effectively bringing the customers we lost to e-commerce firms. We will run more events using Puuvilla and other characters in the near future too,” a Shinsegae official said.