Customers play with their food and companies catch on

Industry

Published: 12 Mar. 2022, 07:00 Updated: 13 Mar. 2022, 18:34

Customers play with their food and companies catch on

From left, Paldo Bibimmyeon, Nongshim Kagrui Keun Sabal and Maeksa. [PALDO, NONGSHIM, GS25]

Korean companies are discovering that their best ideas for products can come from customers.

The idea of customers playing a role in product development has even gotten its own word: “modisumer,” a portmanteau of the English words modify and consumer.

The latest example comes from a customer with more clout than most: RM of the K-pop group BTS.

On a live-streamed online appearance last year, RM expressed some dissatisfaction with the portion size of his favorite cup noodle, Paldo Bibimmyeon. A single serving wasn't enough, RM said, and two were too much.

Manufacturer Paldo responded by releasing earlier this year Paldo Bibimmyeon Cup 1.2, which increased the portion size by 20 percent.

The Korean food company that has taken modisumer marketing to greatest lengths is Nongshim, the market leader in instant ramyeon for the last 30 years.

Nongshim made a huge splash in April 2020, when it released Chapaguri, a combination of two of its popular noodle brands, Chapagetti and Neoguri. Its inspiration was the film "Parasite," which won the best picture Oscar a month earlier.

In the film, one of the characters asks another to make the mix of noodles.

Last October, Nongshim released Kagrui Keun Sabal, another combination of two existing products, Negorui and Keun Sabalmyeon. Customers had been combining the products, especially in PC bang, or internet cafes, and even showing how to do it on YouTube.

Sales have been as high as 2.3 million a month.

“As Covid-19 continued, it has become a trend for people to come up with their own ramyeon recipes at home,” said a spokesperson for Nongshim.

Nongshim currently has a market share estimated at around 55 percent.

Samyang Foods, the third largest ramyeon company with a market share of around 10 percent, is even encouraging inter-brand mixing.

Last month, the company filed an application to trademark the name Shin-Nagasaki, which suggests a combination of its popular Nagasaki Champong instant noodle and Nongshim’s Shin Ramyun. Ramyeon aficionados have been mixing them at home since 2020.

Whether Nongshim is on board is not known.

The Satellite Brewing Company, a craft beer start-up, teamed up with convenience store chain GS25 to release Maeksa, a combination of beer and a soft drink, similar to a shandy in Britain. Maeksa is a portmanteau for the Korean word for beer, maekju, and cider.

People in their 20s and 30s have been making such mixes to come up with a lower alcohol drink.

In November Seoul Jangsu, which makes the fermented rice drink makgeolli, released Maksa, which mixes makgeolli with a carbonated soft drink at a ratio of two to one.

It was based on a popular drink that customers created by mixing makgeolli with Sprite.

Ottogi recently released Keyonnaise, which mixes ketchup with mayonnaise. Koreans have long enjoyed mixing the two.

Size definitely matters in food marketing. Samyang released a new version of its Yulmu Bibimmyun on the request of customers. The latest version is 21 percent larger than the usual product.

Ottogi made a bigger version of its Yukgaejang Ramen, which has grown 20 percent. In eight months, the cup noodle product has sold more than 20 million.

Pokemon break. [SPC SAMLIP]

Some companies are bringing back products, like SPC Samlip which resurrected its Pokemon bread last month. That product was a huge hit from 1998 to 2006. Each package had a collectible sticker of a Pokemon.

In just a week, the company sold 1.5 million. 159 Pokemon stickers are needed to make a complete set.

“The MZ generation is more active in their consumption than the older generation,” said Suh Yong-gu, a Sookmyung Women’s University business administration professor. “They are now mainstream consumers, and it's not a choice but a necessity [for companies] to adopt strategies that reflect their preferences and demands.”

BY BAE JUNG-WON [lee.hojeong@joongang.co.kr]