User created content forecast to become dominant medium

Utilizing user-created content is likely to be a vital marketing tool in the future.
At a recent conference on incorporating user-created content and the Internet environments that use such content in marketing strategies, Choi Hyung-woo, head of Daum Communications e-marketing division, said that changing technology and the new Web 2.0 makes room for more user-made content.
Choi pointed out that in the early stages of the Internet, up to the year 2000, text-based information was the main content, but it evolved to blogs and personal web sites between 2000 and 2005. Since then, however, more user-created content is being posted on the Web, especially in the form of videos.
Choi noted that this trend is not just about Internet content, but about consumer patterns, reflecting the fact that customers are not passive any more, and they like to be creative.
User-created content also makes way for viral marketing through the Web, as can be seen in examples of unknown people who became stars through user-made videos and then became models for real product advertisements. Another example is product advertisement video that is only circulated and made popular online.
In coming years, these user-created videos may generate more advertising revenue than television, Choi predicted. Especially on the Internet, advertisers are moving from Internet banner ads to search-based ads, and now, movie ads.
Unlike other advertisements on the Internet, in a video clip ad, consumers have no choice but to watch the short advertisement clip. Therefore it is easier to focus on a specific target consumer or consumer groups, according to the nature of the video clip.
Major Internet portals are all running video services. Yahoo!, Naver, and Cyworld all have separate video sections and Daum plans to launch a “TV Pod” service that has live channels, video on demand, and other more specialized categories.

By Wohn Dong-hee

Games and movies play nicely together

Many games have been made based on movies, mostly by big film studios that created similar versions of the same game for various gaming platforms. For instance, “Lord of the Rings” or the Harry Potter series were developed into PC, PS2 and Xbox games by EA, a major U.S. game publisher.

Game developers and movie makers, however, are now realizing that there is a closer relationship between movies and games. Especially when it comes to action movies, the film marketing people have realized that their target audience is largely made up of people who enjoy action games and they are thus using games to grab their attention.
Unlike other marketing strategies, this one gets target audiences involved by putting players in the position of being the protagonist of a movie. This creates an experience that is more visceral than simply watching a trailer.

For example, the movie “Double Target,” which arrived in theaters last Thursday, is hosting an event in connection with the first person shooting game Sudden Attack. The link couldn’t be more appropriate, since the movie is about a sniper. By finding certain “codes” found in movie promotional flyers, players can receive free weapons or special healing packs that can be used when playing the game.

The movie’s Web site (http://www.cjent.co.kr/doubletarget) also has some flash-type shooting games to draw viewers into the sniper experience. One is a training academy, where players have to shoot targets. In the first level, the targets are stationary and only 500 yards away, but as players progress the targets are pushed further back and begin to move. The other game on the Web site involves a situation where one must assemble a weapon and then shoot at a moving target from a long range. The target can only be detected by sudden glints of light in the distance and the player’s shots are affected by windspeed and their breathing.

Another example concerns the theatrical release of “TMNT (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) 2007”. A downloadable PC version of the TMNT game was released on April 19. The service, however, is not available yet, but will be updated on the game portal section of Paran.com.

	A screenshot of a shooting game on Double Target’s Web site. Above: An image from the game Sudden Attack. Provided by the companies

According to KTH, which is distributing the game, the PC game was developed by UbiSoft, based on the game engine used for Prince of Persia. Unlike previous Ninja Turtle games, this version ― like the movie ― will have three-dimensional graphics complete with acrobatic stunts and will support combinations of various maneuvers.

Even before the upcoming theater release of Spiderman3, KTF and LG Telecom began servicing a mobile version of the Spiderman3 game last weekend. SK Telecom plans to start services of the game in early May. The mobile version is offered by GNC Interactive, which has, in the past, coordinated a number of cell phone games with movie companies. Most of the games were arcade-style two-dimensional games that used the scenario or characters from the movie, but not the actual graphics.

By Wohn Dong-hee for JoongAng Daily

Getting carried away with new portables

Companies are always trying to find new categories in which to lump consumers, so that they can get a sense of who they’re targeting when developing and selling new products.
The National Statistical Office released a survey last week describing six groups that companies need to keep their eyes on. They said that these “blusumers,” a mix of the words “blue ocean” and “consumer,” were new consumers in a market that had few competitors.

What with so many people using small digital products, it wasn’t surprising that among the newer types of Korean consumers, those “on the move” were one of the six groups. The statistical agency said that “moving” blusumers usually owned at least two or three small digital products.

Statistics showed that Koreans above the age of 10 are spending more time on the move every day. Marketers think that they will need more entertainment as they commute or travel.

Most adults, many youths and the elderly already own cell phones.
In addition, other small gadgets such as MP3 players, portable media players and portable game players such as Sony’s Play Station Portable (PSP) or Nintendo’s DS Lite have become part of the everyday baggage of modern Koreans and many of the brand-names are at the high end of the market, suggesting this is an area where fortunes can be made.

Electronics products are not the only hot items that are being customized for busy people. Companies have begun to design unique products that merge multimedia functions with fashion, such as T-shirts with pockets that are a perfect fit for an iShuffle MP3 music player or strapping speakers to suspenders when doing exercise, like hiking or jogging.

On Auction, a Korean Web-trading site, sales of these items have gone up. You can see MP3 sunglasses (sunglasses that have earphones attached and will play MP3 music files), MP3 wristwatches, and speaker pouches on sale here.
The market for these mobile consumers does not end at giving them a good or unusual way to carry their devices.

Smaller units, such as one sticker company that makes very feminine “stickers” for Motorola Razr phones and other accessory makers also have a chance to grabbing a share of the market.
“The whole ‘digital wear’ thing used to be just for nerds or people into sports, but now that digital products are very commonly carried around, they are becoming more popular,” said Jeon Hang-il, Auction’s fashion manager.

By Wohn Dong-hee for JoongAng Daily

Expo showcases latest gadgets, minus cameras

	Prime Minister Han Duck-soo talks live with baseball star Lee Seung-yeop yesterday using KTF39s video phone service at the Korea IT Show 2007, taking place at COEX in southern Seoul. [YONHAP]

Cutting-edge technology is going beyond generating user-made content to broadcasting that content live using tiny devices that can be linked to just about every electronic product in your home.

Exhibiting the latest trends, the four-day Korea IT Show 2007 began yesterday, with an IT ministerial conference and various industry forums taking place on the sidelines. The show is a combination of five exhibitions that used to be separate events. They were lumped together because some technologies and products overlapped, and it was difficult for companies to finance multiple expos.

Hosted jointly by the Information Ministry and the Commerce Industry, the exhibition features about 300 companies including domestic biggies Samsung Electronics Co., LG Electronics Inc., SK Telecom Co. and KTF, as well as a few foreign firms such as Qualcomm, Canon, Sharp, ARM and Agilent Technologies.

Companies are taking advantage of the show to announce new product releases. Samsung Electronics unveiled an upgraded version of its ultra mobile mini PC, Q1 Ultra. LG Electronics revealed for the first time in Korea its next-generation dual-format “Super Blu” player that plays both DVDs and Blu-ray Discs.

Aside from all the latest gadgets, gizmos, huge TVs and ear-pounding sound systems, the main new trend this year was live broadcasting. This was a new thing because 3G phone services weren’t commercially available last year.

KTF had a booth featuring its new third-generation mobile, Play. Video phone calls, one of the main functions of the new service, were used in a variety of scenarios, such as live broadcasting and live home monitoring.

Satellite broadcaster TU Media had a live interactive radio program, TU Request, going on at its open studio at the show, receiving listener requests live.

SK Telecom also had a lot of live self-generated content. While watching television, a person could pop up his or her phone on the side of the screen and send what’s being seen on TV to the person at the other end of the line, while talking or text-messaging at the same time. The key point to this mobile technology was that it could be linked to other electronic products in your home. “It’s so convenient that I can manage my washing machine with my cell phone from outside the house,” said Kim Yeon-mi, a housewife in Seoul.

Not all of the show was about consumer technology. Although invisible to regular attendees, scores of meetings between foreign buyers and domestic firms took place in private rooms, many prearranged by the Korea International Trade Association. Vietnamese firm VTC Intecom and China’s Kongzhong sought mobile game companies while Italy’s Italia Commerce looked for PC monitor and hard disk drive firms.
Surprisingly, the IT show did not include digital cameras. Although Canon had a booth (printers and solutions were on display), there were no digital SLRs or IXUSs. Nikon, which also has a local office, was nowhere in sight, despite the huge community of Koreans who own digital Nikon cameras.

Perhaps taking a lesson from the recent Seoul Motor Show, which was slammed for having too many sexy female models, the IT Show had a surprisingly high number of male informants for a Korean exhibition. Although both female and male guides were still visually attractive, they were trained to talk glibly about ubiquitous technology and demonstrate mobile broadcasting or the functions of home networking systems.

The show also proved that as technologies merge and consumers are left with overwhelming options, that technology can be about more fundamental things, like finding a way to make shoulder straps more comfortable. L.C. Corp. displayed a whole assortment of shock-absorbent laptop bags and shoulder straps under its AirCell brand, which is not available in Korea.

By Wohn Dong-hee for JoongAng Daily