Press

Eat. Your. Kimchi @ StoryDrive Asia

Simon and Martina, Eat your Kimchi is now the 18th most subscribed youtube channel in South Korea (congrats!!). Why, do you think is your blog so incredibly popular, not only among Korean people? Or in other words: What`s the secret of your success?

We're both very passionate and sincere. The way Korea is typically promoted by the government is very dry and dowdy. "Come to Korea: climb a mountain! Wear traditional Korean clothing! Do you know Bulgogi?" It's created by old people who don't have a pulse on Korea's young, vibrant culture, which is really underrepresented. We're stationed in one of Korea's cultural hubs, in Hongdae, and we're showing people how fun and funky this place can be, not as government workers in suits, but as two people that genuinely have fun here.

I noticed that your video "Korean Stereotypes on Foreigners" got 8.446 comments – how do you manage your fanbase?

It's a great challenge, and something that takes up a lot of our time. We schedule a couple of hours a day to try to do so. After we post a video, we're immediately in the comments, both on YouTube and on our website, answering and talking to as many people as possible.

Also, our fanbase aren't just consumers of our videos, but contributors to it. Their comments are included as part of our videos. Their votes determine who we talk about. We engage with them, not just after the videos, but in them as well, and do our best to make them a part of our videos as possible.

What role does "storytelling" play in the Eat your Kimchi universe and within your brand strategy?

Storytelling for many people is extremely personal. Here's what I did in my day: here's what traffic was like on the way to work; here's what my boss said; here's what a customer did. People always are telling stories of their lives from their perspectives. We're doing the same thing, but in our videos. We tell people what our reactions were to a music video when we watch it. We tell people some funny stories that happened to us on the subway. Everything we do is personal and subjective, and I feel that this brings a more personal relationship with our audience. Going back to community engagement – we're not just telling stories, but we're listening to other people as they tell their stories as well.

You started as "normal" bloggers – did you ever imagine (or plan) this great success?

Not in the freaking least bit! We're still surprised that things are going so well for us, and if we woke up tomorrow and realized that this was all a bizarre dream we wouldn't be upset. We'd probably say, "yeah, seems about right"

You've been running Eat Your Kimchi very successfully for five years now – what are your next steps/ ideas or plans with your brand? You already offer merchandising products like hats or music – do you have any plans to develop further products around the Eat your Kimchi brand – like a magazine, book, travel guide or anything of the like?

We have some things in the works. One area of expansion that really fascinates us is breaking down the borders between online and offline interaction. We meet a lot of people online: how can we interact with them offline, to build our relationship more? These are questions that we're looking into, and we have some fascinating plans for the future

In a nutshell: What's your message for StoryDrive Asia delegates? And what are you expecting from the event?

Storytelling needs to be a two way street. Engage your audience. Make them a part of your story. They're shouldn't be a crowd of people you speak at, but a gathering of friends you speak with. Grab a drink with them. You'll have a much better time!

Martina and Simon will be presenting Eat Your Kimchi at StoryDrive Asia (28 May-1 June 2014). If you'd like to learn more about StoryDrive Asia, follow this link. If you want to eat more Kimchi, try this.

(Source: ：Click Here)