Hello, I’m Kim Hoe Jung, the brand communicator. When asked what my favorite job is, I say, “Connecting brands and customers.” Identifying brand identity and getting to know customers. Replacing the brand’s story with the one the customer wants to hear. I think it is my goal to express this in consistent language and evoke the feeling of “sympathy” that works even without forced explanation. I define this as a ‘brand communicator’ and describe it as a ‘designer of the experience that a brand delivers to its customers’.
Meeting Neo Value
Q. What kind of career have you built at NEOVALUE?
I joined the Neo Value Property Branding Team in 2019. To explain the up more clearly, only the team name has been changed from the branding team to the experience design team.
Q. What made you join NEOVALUE?
I felt the importance of ‘internal branding’ when I created big and small brands in design consulting agencies. To successfully incubate a brand, we analyze targets, derive brand-specific differentiators, and create a visual plan that makes it attractive. But a few months later, the brand that was born like that looks somewhat strange. Unlike the initial plan, it gradually moves in an unintended direction. Through a series of experiences, I have learned that a brand is like a living organism, and that it is as important to cultivate well as to produce well. At the same time, the desire to “grow a brand” has begun to grow beyond creating a brand. Then I met a space called “Alleyway.” At that time, the most important factors in offline space were “development of consumer revisit points and realization of regional contexts,” and Alleyway was making bold investments in these two areas. After the successful launch, I had a desire to grow this brand by looking at Alleyway, who had just begun to take a step forward.
Working as a lifestyle developer
Q. Please introduce what the team does.
Like the name of the Experience Design Team, I work on creating the experience of Alleyway. At first glance, Alleyway is just a well-made ‘apartment store’. At first, I was quite embarrassed when I saw the apartment towering above Alleyway. But what’s going on in there is quite interesting. 200 people gathered in the square to make kimchi together, and in winter, snow sledding for children was installed in the square. In short, it’s what the experience design team does to make sure that people who visit once say, “I want to live here, too.”
Q. What is your job?
It plays a role in connecting the brand Alleyway and its customers. We do things to strengthen the Alleyway brand and deliver it to our customers. We are mainly conducting offline activity planning, message development, and PR work.
Q. What are the pros and cons of working as a lifestyle developer?
I think it’s an advantage that I can experience developing a brand. When I was consulting, I only participated in the initial brand planning, so I didn’t know the various stories that actually occurred while operating. The downside is that there’s no right answer? That could be about it.
Q. What major/competencies do you need for work?
I think customer-centered problem-solving thinking is the most important. In the process of clearly communicating our brand’s story to customers, it is often misrepresented by various variables. Each time, you need the ability to understand and cope with why such an issue occurred. Actually, I’m still lacking a lot and I want to continue to develop it.
Q. How can I have that capability?
It’s more important than you think to ask ‘why?’ to the moments you feel in your daily life. It’s not just a “why” to nitpick, it’s a question that explores essential reasons. For example, when you come across activities that are run by other brands, you think about why you’re planning these activities. After all, I think what I see, feel, and think can be the ‘customer experience’ that the brand wants to find because I am also a customer of many brands.
Q. What kind of colleague do you want to work with?
Someone who can create synergy. I think the most enjoyable moment is the moment when Insights in the field I didn’t know and the facts I knew meet and solve with a different story. I hope you are an open-minded person who has clear values and is willing to share them with others.
My lifestyle
Q. Please introduce your daily routine at NEOVALUE.
When I go to work, I start by looking at the newsletter. These days, they collect and send various issues in a good way, so even if you read the newsletter lightly, your brain feels awake newsletter lightly. After that, I look at the to do list that was conducted yesterday and make today’s list. I like to proceed with a lot of work at once. I tend to do various things at the same time because I have high instantaneous concentration and low long-term concentration. For example, I write blog posts while preparing submission documents and plan events while thinking about lunch menus. Experience outside the company can also be the beginning of a new insight, so I finish it as quickly as possible during rush hour.
Q. What kind of lifestyle do you have?
I am living a life of happiness in finding and purchasing unique items. Even when I buy essential items, I tour various spaces to buy meaningful and valuable products. For example, recently independent, nail clippers have become necessary. Come to think of it, the nail clipper was always at home. I’ve never bought this product with my own money. But it was something that I needed to live with. So I decided, “Let’s buy a nail clipper that I can brag about!” And I finally got my hands on the nail clipper of Hankelsa, which is famous for twin knives. This product, which looks like a small, thin iron bar the size of two fingers, makes a nice nail clipper with simple movements. The cutting power is already guaranteed by Hankel’s technology. It’s also easy to carry around, so I usually carry it in my pencil case, which sometimes appears to help me quickly deal with my annoying fingers all day long. I think finding and purchasing a unique product like this is the best thing that reveals me.
The Future of the City We Draw
Q. What do you think a sustainable city is like?
Cities are like living organisms after all, so I think we need to be healthy to be sustainable. People exercise, make hobbies, meet people, and take care of themselves to be healthy. I think the same goes for cities. You have to continue to have new fun, and you have to have your own story. Reckless development makes health worse like binge eating. I think it is a sustainable city to keep the city circulating under thorough planning like managing a diet.
To me, a lifestyle developer is a person who creates new values!
Branding (Marketing)
[Connecting Neo Value to internal and external customers]
– Develop a brand and develop an appropriate brand strategy to manage the image and recognition of Neo Value.
– Through external communication, we deliver a message that shows the value of Neo Value well.
– Effectively communicate vision and core values to members through internal communication (internal branding).
– Plan and operate branding/marketing strategies that can activate the space proposed by Neo Value.