Brand
The imposing power of K-content, and the logistics fever brought about by Squid Game!
2021. 11. 30
Korean cultural content has become a worldwide phenomenon, so much so that it is not even surprising to hear the news that BTS’ latest release entered the Billboard charts. Fans around the world are learning Hangul, singing along to K-pop songs, dressing up like their favorite Korean actors, and are willing to try out the games they have seen in TV dramas. Riding the tide of this global sensation, the volume of shipments for relevant goods is also rising. Let’s look into the connection between the power of content and the logistics industry as shown by big data on CJ Logistics’ courier logistics services.
01
K-content taking the world by storm
Kim Gu, a respected political leader who fought for Korea’s independence from Japanese Imperialists, once said, “The only thing I yearn for is the mighty power of a culture.” Fast forward 70, 80 years to 2021, Korea has now become a new cultural powerhouse. Films, dramas, songs, webtoons made in Korea are dubbed as K-content and have risen to global stardom, transcending barriers of international borders, skin color, age groups, gender, and even language.
To list a few examples that have made their mark in history, the movie Parasite won four Academy awards, including the Best Picture and the Best Director at Oscars 2020. A boy band BTS topped the Billboard Hot 100 with their impressive Hot Shot Debut with “My Universe,” which they sang together with Coldplay, making it their sixth song to sit atop the Billboard chart.
In recent months, a Netflix original drama, Squid Game, is dominating the global TV scene. It has reached 111 million fans worldwide in October this year, ranking in the first place in the Netflix’s global ranking for as many as 46 days. This is a remarkable achievement, which even saw the American daily, the New York Times, refer to Korea as a cultural juggernaut. There are now also marketing campaigns being launched around the world that have been inspired by the “Red Light, Green Light” game on Squid Game, and you can easily find parody videos of the drama on TikTok and Instagram Reels. Indeed, K-content has gripped audiences from all around the world.
K-content taking the world by storm
Kim Gu, a respected political leader who fought for Korea’s independence from Japanese Imperialists, once said, “The only thing I yearn for is the mighty power of a culture.” Fast forward 70, 80 years to 2021, Korea has now become a new cultural powerhouse. Films, dramas, songs, webtoons made in Korea are dubbed as K-content and have risen to global stardom, transcending barriers of international borders, skin color, age groups, gender, and even language.
To list a few examples that have made their mark in history, the movie Parasite won four Academy awards, including the Best Picture and the Best Director at Oscars 2020. A boy band BTS topped the Billboard Hot 100 with their impressive Hot Shot Debut with “My Universe,” which they sang together with Coldplay, making it their sixth song to sit atop the Billboard chart.
In recent months, a Netflix original drama, Squid Game, is dominating the global TV scene. It has reached 111 million fans worldwide in October this year, ranking in the first place in the Netflix’s global ranking for as many as 46 days. This is a remarkable achievement, which even saw the American daily, the New York Times, refer to Korea as a cultural juggernaut. There are now also marketing campaigns being launched around the world that have been inspired by the “Red Light, Green Light” game on Squid Game, and you can easily find parody videos of the drama on TikTok and Instagram Reels. Indeed, K-content has gripped audiences from all around the world.
02
The popularity of K-content drives up the shipment volume for related items
The ripple effect of K-content is just astonishing. The enormous popularity of movies, dramas, and songs are driving the growth of relevant businesses, and interestingly, also boosting the volume of relevant shipments. CJ Logistics big data shows that deliveries of a dalgona game set that appeared on Squid Game, and shipments for tools for playing Korean traditional games like the marble game, pebble game, top-spinning game, and hacky sack are increasing. The volume for dalgona game sets and dalgonas skyrocketed by whopping 3,250% and 1,600%, respectively, between the second week of September and the third week of October (the same period to be applied in later data).
What about tools for traditional games? Perhaps because many fans remembered the word, Gganbu, in the marble game scene, the logistics volume for glass marbles rose by 450%, and tools used for the top-spinning game, pebble game, and pitch-pot showed a similar pattern. Volume for traditional game tools that had usually only increased temporarily during the Korean holidays returned to pre-holiday figures after the release of Squid Game.
Volume for drama costumes rose clearly, especially around Halloween. Do you recall the jump suit and the masks worn by the Squid Game guards? The figure for costumes that were near zero in the second and the third week of September gradually rose starting in the fourth week and soared by 4,000% by the third week of October around Halloween. This isn’t the first time this has happened though. With the phenomenal success of Parasite, the volume for Chapagetti and Neoguri saw a similar increase. The figure for Chapaghetti rose by 207%, while that for Neoguri rose by 393%.
The popularity of K-content drives up the shipment volume for related items
What about tools for traditional games? Perhaps because many fans remembered the word, Gganbu, in the marble game scene, the logistics volume for glass marbles rose by 450%, and tools used for the top-spinning game, pebble game, and pitch-pot showed a similar pattern. Volume for traditional game tools that had usually only increased temporarily during the Korean holidays returned to pre-holiday figures after the release of Squid Game.
Volume for drama costumes rose clearly, especially around Halloween. Do you recall the jump suit and the masks worn by the Squid Game guards? The figure for costumes that were near zero in the second and the third week of September gradually rose starting in the fourth week and soared by 4,000% by the third week of October around Halloween. This isn’t the first time this has happened though. With the phenomenal success of Parasite, the volume for Chapagetti and Neoguri saw a similar increase. The figure for Chapaghetti rose by 207%, while that for Neoguri rose by 393%.
03
CJ Logistics realizes K-logistics that supports K-content
K-content is delivered to every corner of Korea and now to the rest of the world. Considering the year-end season, the logistics industry must be well prepared. CJ Logistics offers the best, optimized logistics process to customers with its differentiated shipping systems. For fashion and food, which are always up against one another for the first place in the parcel delivery volume, CJ Logistics provides an e-fulfillment service tailored to the unique characteristics of the sectors based on the company’s nationwide logistics centers.
CJ Logistics offers a one-stop logistics service from shipment, delivery, and inventory management. Moreover, the company has managed to cut down logistics cost and improve efficiency of operation by using common logistics facilities and manpower. The state-of-the-art automation process can handle the soaring volume in the peak season. For instance, when using the Market Kurly service, a CJ Logistics customer, you make an order before midnight and can receive it the next day with your food kept in its optimum state by three-room system.
Zigzag, a shopping app featuring over 4,000 online fashion malls, delivers Z-Only products quickly though our e-fulfilment service. For orders made before midnight, it ships most of the goods that have entered the e-fulfillment center the next day [D2Jin1]. This is a special service designed to reduce the pressure on the storage and inventory of sellers and delivers the products rapidly to consumers.
Along with the rapid growth of global e-commerce, the role of overseas shipment services has grown as well. CJ Logistics offers a total logistics service, including air and ocean freight, customs clearance, storage, inland transport, as well as an international express service specialized in the current circumstances with increased orders and the rise in the number of goods that need to be handled, brought about by the expansion of global e-commerce. With robust infrastructure and operational know-how, CJ Logistics provides a one-stop service customized for e-commerce, and responds to abnormal signs early on by monitoring the tracking data in real-time. Moving forward, CJ Logistics will accelerate its efforts to provide advanced logistics service as a leader of K-logistics with proven records, as seen in K-fashion and K-food.
Image source - Netflix, Big Hit Music, and Amazon
CJ Logistics realizes K-logistics that supports K-content
K-content is delivered to every corner of Korea and now to the rest of the world. Considering the year-end season, the logistics industry must be well prepared. CJ Logistics offers the best, optimized logistics process to customers with its differentiated shipping systems. For fashion and food, which are always up against one another for the first place in the parcel delivery volume, CJ Logistics provides an e-fulfillment service tailored to the unique characteristics of the sectors based on the company’s nationwide logistics centers.
CJ Logistics offers a one-stop logistics service from shipment, delivery, and inventory management. Moreover, the company has managed to cut down logistics cost and improve efficiency of operation by using common logistics facilities and manpower. The state-of-the-art automation process can handle the soaring volume in the peak season. For instance, when using the Market Kurly service, a CJ Logistics customer, you make an order before midnight and can receive it the next day with your food kept in its optimum state by three-room system.
Zigzag, a shopping app featuring over 4,000 online fashion malls, delivers Z-Only products quickly though our e-fulfilment service. For orders made before midnight, it ships most of the goods that have entered the e-fulfillment center the next day [D2Jin1]. This is a special service designed to reduce the pressure on the storage and inventory of sellers and delivers the products rapidly to consumers.
Along with the rapid growth of global e-commerce, the role of overseas shipment services has grown as well. CJ Logistics offers a total logistics service, including air and ocean freight, customs clearance, storage, inland transport, as well as an international express service specialized in the current circumstances with increased orders and the rise in the number of goods that need to be handled, brought about by the expansion of global e-commerce. With robust infrastructure and operational know-how, CJ Logistics provides a one-stop service customized for e-commerce, and responds to abnormal signs early on by monitoring the tracking data in real-time. Moving forward, CJ Logistics will accelerate its efforts to provide advanced logistics service as a leader of K-logistics with proven records, as seen in K-fashion and K-food.
Image source - Netflix, Big Hit Music, and Amazon
