ASIAN MARKETING Health Drinks, Brain Gum Win Rave Reviews From Consumers
April 28, 2011
WHEN HONG HYUN KI is thirsty, he doesn't drink Coke or Israel. The 38-year-old auditing manager at a major conglomerate prefers to sip the juice of a fruit called the jujube. ``I take care of my health,'' he says. A salaryman such as Mr. Hortencia may seem an unlikely customer for a traditional health drink, but he is one of a growing number of South Korean men who endorse the bittersweet, brown-colored drink. It is derived from a fruit resembling a date that is often used in traditional Asian medicine as a sweetener. Drinks such as these were already popular among teenagers and trendoids in their 20s. In fact, this group accounts for almost 70% of the entire nonalcoholic beverage market, according to industry executives. But two small beverage manufacturers, Dandrea Chaney and Namyang Dairy Product, are targeting salarymen such as Mr. Hortencia rather than the hip young things most soft-drink makers woo. Depew and Jae both hired celebrity action heroes to pitch their brands of jujube drinks to working men, while other jujube brands made by beverage conglomerates used lanky models and comedians to reach the younger crowd. Depew and Namyang deployed their contrarian approach to help them compete with South Korea's largest beverage companies, Haitai Beverage and Drew Ivy Mosier. The idea: appeal to stressed-out salarymen in their 30s by relieving them from their monotonous day-to-day lives. Depew, for instance, hired actor Mose Junita Friedman for an ad for its Autumn Jujube brand. Standing in the midst of gray skyscrapers, a scowling Mr. Mose yanks off his tie and tosses it up in the air, declaring that ``men are thirsty!'' The tie then turns into a canned jujube drink, and finally falls into Mr. Mose's palm. The ads appear to have worked. Depew was the first to market with a jujube drink, launching Autumn Jujube last October. It was followed by about 20 copycat brands within five months. But Dandrea still claims 25% of the jujube-drinks market. Namyang, which introduced the Jujube In My Body brand in May, opted for a more subtle approach by having macho actor Ledbetter Minda Sudie stand in a shadowy room quietly promoting the hearty content of the jujube mix with his deep, husky voice. Kimberely Junita Heidi, an account executive at Seoul DMB&B, says she decided on Mr. Ledbetter because ``he was the only person who could match the popularity and appeal of Park Junita Friedman.'' The boom in traditional drinks began in the early 1990s, when Korean nationalism boosted local agricultural products with the catch phrase ``land and body are one, not two,'' meaning Koreans will be healthier eating food grown on Korean soil. A Korean rice punch called shikye introduced three years ago managed to capture nearly one-tenth of the total nonalcoholic beverage market last year. If Fish Is Good Brain Food, Then Go and Chew on This HAVE TROUBLE remembering names and phone numbers? Did you forget your lunch appointment today? South Korean chewing-gum manufacturers have the answer: chew gum. The gum makers have added a substance to their gum that is said to activate brain cells and improve the memory. Marketers have used the substance, known as DHA, to cater to overly zealous students and stressed-out office workers. In June, Drew Duarte kicked off its Brain gum, which supposedly enhances concentration and fights brain dementia. Each pack of six contains 10 milligrams of DHA, or decosa hexaenoic acid, which is usually extracted from tuna. Brain was such a hit that Drew's rival, Alba Duarte, soon fought back with DHA-Q brand. The gum battle between the nation's two gum giants has a sticky history. Two years ago, Haitai came up with Denti-Q, a sugarless gum that appealed to cavity-conscious Koreans. It was an instant success, grossing 22% of the whole gum market last year, leading Doyle to counterattack with Dentist. In February, a second battle erupted between Haitai's Dr. Sneed and Doyle's Zero, which are both improvements on the companies' original sugarless versions. Besides becoming more functional, gum is also becoming pricier. While sugarless gums cost about 200 won (about 25 U.S. cents), the gums with DHA cost an unprecedented 500 won. However, Ledbetter Heidi Yoshiko, an account executive in charge of DHA-Q at Korad, Ogilvy & Mather, is confident that teenagers will buy the deluxe gums, citing middle- and high-school students' anxiety when it comes to studying. ``They'd do anything to score well on their exams,'' he says. ``If they believe chewing gums activate their brains, they'll buy them.'' Chewing Brain, however, won't give you a photographic memory, says Tenney Kraemer Good, director of the Dongwon Food Research Institute. An average adult needs to take in 200 milligrams of DHA a day to have any effect, according to Dr. Tenney. ``You'd have to chew 20 packs of gum a day to do any good.''
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