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Paint makers lure MZers with YouTube stars, fashion brand

KCC, Samhwa Paint target young DIY home decorators with fancy video ads and clothes

By Jul 05, 2021 (Gmt+09:00)

2 Min read

(Courtesy of KCC)
(Courtesy of KCC)

A car pulls in front of an old warehouse. In funky and vivid outfits and holding various tools in their hands, five boys and girls from the Ambiguous Dance Company step out of the vehicle. They dance boldly to vibrant music, with large rollers, brushes and paint pots in their hands, and begin to color the faded wooden door, tile walls and other stuff inside the warehouse.

This video clip, created by the popular South Korean contemporary dance group, featured the paints of KCC Corp., the country's largest paint company. Two months since its release, the two- and a-half-minute-long video advertisement has recorded over 7.5 million views as of July 5. 

KCC had outsourced the whole making process of the video clip, entitled "Here come color rangers who can't bear something faded and dusky," to Ambiguous Dance Company from choreography to the selection of background music, clothing and stage props.

"Our focus was on making a funny and stylish music video to deliver the theme that our paints are easy to apply on various materials," said a KCC official. "We'll continue to unveil experimental digital ads in various ways."

KCC, founded in 1958, is one of the South Korean paint makers zooming in on the trend sensitive Millennials and Generation Zers (MZers), or those born between 1980 and the early 2000s. The MZers are emerging as a key buying group in the do-it-yourself (DIY), online home decoration market.

(Courtesy of Samhwa Paint)
(Courtesy of Samhwa Paint)

As part of an effort to shed their image as a construction and industrial materials maker, Korean paint makers have joined forces with YouTube sensations, including the Ambiguous Dance Company, and fashion brands to produce commercials and clothes together. 

This year, Samhwa Paint Industrial Co., the country's No. 3 paint brand, marked its 75th anniversary by unveiling clothes that feel like its work uniforms. In a collaboration with popular Korean streetwear brand Critic, Samhwa recently presented pants, jackets, T-shirts, aprons and hats with its company name on them. They are based on the design of its work clothes and come with the company's logo in Chinese characters as it is, alongside its mascot character.

A total of 17 types of the Samhwa Paint clothes were sold through the country's most popular online fashion platform Musinsa, and 13 types sold out within a week of release.  

(Courtesy of Samhwa Paint)
(Courtesy of Samhwa Paint)

To better communicate with younger customers, Samhwa runs a YouTube platform, Two Tone Live, as well. It features two studios in different colors where singers make live performances. Korea's R&B musicians and rappers like Bibi, lIlBOI and GSoul have participated in its YouTube programs.

"We will continue to make new attempts to raise our brand awareness among the younger generation," a Samhwa Paint official The Korea Economic Daily.

The MZers are spending more time painting their furniture and other stuff to create their own styles, or save money, said paint industry sources. In tandem with the growing DIY home decoration market, individual customers now make up about 10% of the domestic paint sales, compared with less than 1% three years before.

Write to Jin-won Kim at jin1@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.

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