K2, Korean Outdoor brand SNS analysis

K2Facebook contents analysis and Recommendation

EUNHA ParkSookmyung Women’s University

[email protected]

Index

1. About K2

- K2_Brand History

- K2_Brand Products

- Outdoor market in Korea analysis

- K2_Marketing strategy

- K2_SNS Marketing

- K2_FACEBOOK brand page analysis

2. Competitors

- The North Face_FACEBOOK brand page analysis

- Black Yak_ FACEBOOK brand page analysis

3. Recommendation for K2

- SWOT analysis & Insights

- Recommend FACEBOOK page contents for K2

K2_Brand history

1. Brand Name Background

K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth, after Mount Everest. It is located on the border between northern Pakistan and Xinjiang, China. K2 is known as the Savage Mountain due to the extreme difficulty of ascent.

2. Brand History

- 1972: K2 was founded as a outdoor footwear company.

Korean first outdoor footwear, LOVA, was invented.

- 1995: K2 started to produce outdoor wear

- 1999: K2 became the total outdoor brand

- 2010: K2 reached annual sales of 50 billion won

K2_Brand Products

- K2 is a total outdoor brand

- K2 categorize the products in five sections, which are menswear, womenswear,

footwear, mountain-climbing equipment, junior, and camping

- K2 has a special technology in making hiking boots with Gore-tex

Outdoor Market in Korea Analysis

1. Korea’s outdoor sportswear market ranked in 2nd place all over the world at 6 trillion won, following the U.S. The market grew significantly last year, despite economic downturn.

2. There are more than 200 outdoor brands in Korea, but Top 5 brands take up more than 60% of the market. The five brands are the North Face, Kolon Sport, K2, Black Yak and Columbia.

3. With the constant growth in outdoor market in Korea, international premium outdoor brands, such as Montura from Italy and Mammut from switzerland launched their stores in Korea 2013. Not just an outdoor brand but a fashion brands in Korea keep launching their outdoor sportswear brand. For example, Beanpole

Outdoor Market in Korea Analysis

4. Korean Outdoor brands are shifting their attention overseas, especially to China, because they expect outdoor market in Korea will reach saturation in near future.

6. With the growing competition, outdoor sportswear brands have been marketing their products aggressively, spending a lot of money in advertising. They cast Korean top celebrities to appeal to customers, especially young generation.

7. Outdoor brand boom is continuing in the city life. People enjoy their leisure time at special restaurants such as ‘Outdoor Kitchen’, located next to Chunggae-chun in Seoul, Korea. People enjoy BBQ party at the restaurant like camping in campsite. Camping & Music festivals and Glamping, which means glamourous camping became a new cultural wave in Korea..

K2_Marketing Strategy

- K2‘s Campaign slogan is “You only live Once”. The campaign reminds people that our life is short, so if you hesitate to experience new things, there will be no chance forever. K2 made three TVCF following this concept in 2013.

- K2‘s model Hyun-Bin(현빈) is one of the top actors in Korea. He is well-known and loved by all generation.

- K2 has consumer Marketers called ‘K2 Family Blogger’

- K2 supports ‘Orange Volunteers’ for teaching young students for CSR campaign.

K2_SNS Marketing

K2 has 4 Social Media platforms

- K2 Official Site: has contents related to brand history, products, catalogs and also is linked to the online shop.

- K2 Twitter: communicates with their fans, and usually posts one update in a day with a link to other channel’s contents.

- K2 Facebook brand page: shows company overview. They have product images, TVCF, events, information etc. Some postings include links which is connected to other K2 channels.

- K2 Youtube Channel: has many videos including official TVCF, making film, K2 fashion show video, and camping documentaries directed by K2.

K2_Facebook Brand Page Analysis

- K2 started brand’s facebook brand page in December, 8th 2010. They usually posts once in a day on weekdays, and no updates on weekends. About 30,000 fans subscribe K2’s facebook page.

- Every facebook users can post their own idea or comments on K2’s timeline and others can see that postings by clicking “recent posts by others on K2 outdoor”. It is opened. People ask questions about K2 products, leave a picture of their K2 products, and some people asks how to get sponsored by K2. K2 interacts with their fans by writing comments.

- Overall Contents Analysis (postings between July 1st, 2013 to October 15th, 2013)

1) Personal : 35 postings

2) Informative : 11 postings

3) Interactive : 0 postings

4) Promotional : 7 postings

1. Personal contents : 35 postings

- Introducing K2‘s new product

- K2’s Commercials (TVCF, poster shooting images, )

- K2’s CSR event photos


2. Informative contents : 11 postings

- Travel guides

- News related to outdoor activities

- Introducing new Camp-site in Korea

- Health care Tip


3. Interactive: 0 postings

There is no interactive posting for recent 3 months. One example was posted on June 21st, 2013. The contents was asking fans about their ‘Dream Camping’. K2 suggested 3 options. They earned 158 Likes and 51 comments.

Personal postings usually get 0 to 10 comments. Interactive postings such as asking a simple question is effective way to get comments even though there is no gift.


4. Promotional contents: 7 postings

- Fans recommend their idea about the topic by writing comments.

- Quiz events

- Sharing events


K2_The Best Contents

1. “[6th event] Share the posting and get a light outdoor jacket, Stealth2”

- The GOOD: The event was simple. Sharing the posting in 4hour was all. K2‘s Outdoor sportswear is expensive. The gift was a good motivation for people to participate in the event. Not only this event, other promotional events get a lot of likes and comments compared to other postings.

K2_The Best contents

2. “Congratulations! K2 fan number has reached 20000!!”

The Good: It is a kind of ‘Behind the Scene’ contents. The video runs only for 6 seconds. K2’s model Hyun-bin says, “Click like button to show your good sense.” with a cute hand gesture. People like this very personal video because they feel intimacy with the model and the brand.

I can’t help clicking like button after watching this!

oh, I am one of the 20000 fans :)

3. “K2 went camping to Daema-island in Japan!”

The Good: K2 gave a notice a week ago for their camping plan to Daema-island with a photo. Daema-island is familiar name to korean, but many people have no idea whether the island is a good place for camping. K2 released a photo of Daema-island to make people interested and then uploaded the main posting after a week.

K2_The Best contents

1. “ You can get mileage if you check-in everyday on K2’s homepage!”

The Bad: Most promotional contents were successful in terms of the number of likes and comments. However, promotional events are not always what fans want. I think this event failed because people prefer events which is done at once. Maybe the mileage point was not enough for people to engage the event.

No comments and shares at all!

K2_ Weak Contents

2. “K2’s new TVCF for walking shoes, flywalk, is released!”

The Bad: The Facebook page was not the initial channel released this TVCF. It cannot be the news, but became an obvious advertising.

K2_ Weak Contents

- What is ‘BTS(Behind-The-Scenes)Contents?’

BTS(Behind-The-Scenes) Contents is a brand-generated contents which shows brand’s behind stories. To make a stronger relationship between the brand and consumer, companies share their TVCF making-film, backstage photos of fashion show and etc.

K2_ BTS Contents

- K2 shared their BTS contents on Facebook.

-They shared their own story that “K2 equipment team had a camping day to test the new products for 2014.”

K2_Competitor, The North Face Facebook Analysis

- The North Face started their facebook fanpage on 24th January, 2011. They updates one or two contents on weekdays, and no updates on weekends. About 38,000 fans subscribe the page.


1. Personal : 63 postings

2. Informative : 11 postings

3. Interactive : 2 postings

4. Promotional : 5 postings

- About 70% of the postings are personal contents.

- Personal contents use professional photo shoots and write down little message.

- Postings which has more than 5 sentences have a short title.

- The messages keep warm and friendly tone.

- Using Hashtags (#____ ) to categorize their products

K2_Competitor, The North Face Facebook Analysis

K2_Competitor, Black YakFacebook Analysis

- Black Yak started brand’s facebook fanpage in March 9th, 2011. They usually posts once in a day on weekdays, and no updates on weekends. About 61,000 fans subscribe Black Yak’s page.


1. Personal : 4 postings

2. Informative : 5 postings

3. Interactive : 13 postings

4. Promotional : 11 postings

- Focusing on ‘Interactive contents’. They have the greatest number of comments among three companies (K2, The North Face, Black Yak).

- ‘Interactive contents’ are usually simple questions or quizzes, and most of them are not related to their brand or outdoor sports.

- Using same format in every postings. (Red square + Logo on the left)

K2_Competitor, Black YakFacebook Analysis

“Which is your hiking style?”

The Good: After asking a question, they explain the terms briefly. People enjoy answering the question with learning the new term related to their hiking style. It is a good example of hybrid contents which is informative and interactive at the same time.

K2_Competitor, Black Yak’s best contents

K2_SWOT Analysis

- K2 already started to post BTS (behind-the-scenes) contents

- K2 has 4 SNS channels

- have less number of fans, comments and likes compared to two competitors

- There was no interactive contents for recent three months

- There is no unique contents for K2

- Young generations, the most active users of facebook, has become more interested in outdoor sportswear recently.

- Outdoor sportswear has become a daily look

- New outdoor brands try to make their facebook page

-There are too many company fan pages on facebook.

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K2_Insights

what insights did I get?

How can K2 improve their contents?

- People like entertaining contents.

- People like to learn small knowledge related to outdoor events.

- Posts a preview contents before the main contents is effective.

- Promotional contents such as events don’t work all the time.

- Hybrid contents, which has more than two characteristics among personal, informative, interactive, promotional is much effective than simple contents.

- K2 needs their own story-based contents which can be distinguishable from its competitors’ contents.

Guidelines for contents recommending

- MAJORAM, a Goose-down Jacket,

is K2’s main item in 2013 winter season

- Tell a unique Story of MAJORAM (BTS contents)

- Make three series contents

- Each contents to be ‘Hybrid contents’

K2_Recommendation for Facebook Contents

1. “Where these goose-down from?”

- This posting is a preview for upcoming posting. The main purpose is to create people’s interest.

- By asking a question, “ which part of the goose body have the largest amount of features?”, we can expect comments about their idea.

- This posting can give people a small idea that MAJORAM is made by goose down from france.

- This contents is ‘interactive’ , ‘informative’ and also ‘personal’.


2. “MAJORAM’s journey to his homeland, France!”

- This video is a BTS(Behind the Scene) contents how MAJORAM goose-down jacket was started.

- By sharing K2’s personal video, fans will be feel much intimacy and also can build a strong bond with the product.

- The video can be a travel guide to some people. So, this contents is ‘informative’, and ‘personal’ at the same time.


3. “[Event] Flying GOOSE!”

- Promotional contents is the most effective way to get likes, and comments. It means this contents can reach to many audience.

- By having an event, we can attract many people, not only our fans but also other people who are not interested in K2.

- This is the last contents of the MAJORAM series, so if this reach to many audience they will be interested to previous two series.

- This contents is ‘promotional’, ‘interactive’ and ‘personal at the same time.


K2, Korean Outdoor brand SNS analysis

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