Brand Characters That Fronted Pop-Up Stores in 2023

In the second half of 2023, pop-up stores led by brand characters opened one after another. The formats varied, from booths where visitors could talk with a character to character merchandise sales, collaboration pop-ups with other characters and mascot experience spaces. The characters also came from many backgrounds, from a telecom company's app character to a soju brand's mascot.

SK Telecom's A. Friends Pop-Up at Lotte World

SK Telecom ran an A. Friends pop-up at Lotte World's Winnie Binnie Plaza from Aug. 11 to 20, 2023. The pop-up lasted 10 days, and an average of about 3,000 people a day visited during the first two days. At the character booth, visitors could talk with the characters through the A. app and take 3D hologram photos. The pop-up brought the app's characters out into an amusement park plaza.

Dongdaemun Yeopgi Tteokbokki's First Pop-Up in Seongsu

Hot Seasoner, which operates Dongdaemun Yeopgi Tteokbokki, opened its first pop-up in Seongsu in October 2023. The pop-up sold merchandise featuring its main characters, Yeobi and Deogi. Yeobi and Deogi are the two main characters of Dongdaemun Yeopgi Tteokbokki. Deogi is a friendly lion character unveiled in 2021. The brand filled its first pop-up with merchandise of its main characters.

Shinsegae Department Store's Puvilla and Pengsoo Collaboration

Shinsegae Department Store opened a collaboration pop-up featuring its character Puvilla and Pengsoo at its Centum City branch in November 2023. The collaboration brought the department store's own character and an outside character together in one space. Puvilla is Shinsegae Department Store's character, which has continued to collaborate with other characters.

Sunyang's Whale at Flop Sunyang

Soju brand Sunyang ran a pop-up store called Flop Sunyang in December 2023. The pop-up featured a Whale mascot attraction zone and about 30 kinds of limited-edition merchandise. The attraction zone was designed as a space where visitors could experience the Whale mascot firsthand. The Whale is the trademark of Sunyang soju and also appears on the bottle cap.

Four Pop-Ups in Four Months

From August to December 2023, a telecom company, a franchise, a department store and a liquor brand opened character pop-ups in turn. Each pop-up centered on something different: conversations with app characters, merchandise of main characters, a character collaboration and a mascot experience zone. In the second half of the same year, four brands from different industries all made characters the face of their pop-ups.