Korean brand photo booths actively expand into overseas markets
Discover content like Frame’s collaboration with K-pop stars
“Can I take a ‘Byeon Woo-seok frame’ at Photoism in Shibuya, Tokyo?”
Last June, this question was asked in an online community for expatriates. The question is whether it is possible to take photos using a photo frame containing Byeon Woo-seok at the Korean brand’s self-portrait booth installed abroad. Byeon Woo-seok is an actor who rose to Hallyu fame as the lead actor in the popular TV drama ‘Seonjae and Jump’. If you stand in front of the photo booth and stand according to the instructions, the result will be as if you were taking a picture with the famous person. You can take photos with frames not only of Byun Woo-seok but also of various K-pop stars.
Photo booths, which have been popular in recent years mostly among Korea’s MZ generation (generation born between the 1980s and early 2000s), are also becoming popular in Asian countries overseas such as China and Singapore, due to the popularity of Korean Wave content.
According to the ‘China Self-Photo Booth Market Report’ published by the Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) earlier this month, the total sales of China’s instant self-photo booth industry in 2023 will be 709.7 billion yuan ( about 136 trillion won. ), and 3.1 billion in 2021. It increased about 220 times compared to 70 million Yuan (about 606.5 billion won).
According to the report, the most popular brand in China’s selfie booth market is Korea’s ‘Life Four Cuts’. Another Korean brand, ‘Photoism’, and local Chinese brands ‘JUST.FOTO’ and ‘FOTOBOX’ followed.
The popularity of Four Cuts of Life can be proven on Chinese social networking services (SNS). As of July this year, posts related to the four life cuts on the Chinese SNS ‘Xiaohongshu’ recorded a total of 84.125 million views. Even on Weibo, the number of followers for the four main life cuts reaches 5.07 million.
A photo booth found by a reporter in downtown Singapore last August. Korean signage is impressive. /Photo=Reporter Kim Young-ri
Photo booths locate the reporter in downtown Singapore last August. / Photo = Reporter Kim Young-ri Last August, photo booths with Korean signs were found on busy streets overseas such as Singapore. Mr Park (29), a Korean student living in Singapore, said, “As Korean idol members took pictures in photo booths and posted them on Instagram, local people in their 20s were interested in booths photos too The number of Korean-style photo booths has increased in the city’s main streets over the past two years,” he said.
At the end of last year, Life Four Cuts has expanded to 19 countries and operates more than 230 branches abroad. Photoism opened stores in Asian countries such as Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam and China, and sales last year increased five times compared to the previous year.
“IP content drives cinema popularity”
Photo booths overseas have released photo frames in collaboration with K-pop stars. If you go into the booth and take a photo, you’ll get results that look like you took a photo with a celebrity. / Photo=Life Four Cuts, Solace Studio Official Instagram Capture. It is assessed that the culture of the photo booth is recognized as ‘K-culture’ internally and externally.
Self-portrait studios in the form of stickers were very popular in Japan in the early 1990s. As smartphones became widespread in the 2010s, selfie apps became popular, and the popularity of sticker photos subsequently declined.
Then, around 2020, as the analog craze took hold in Korea, photo booths started popping up one by one, especially in Seongsu-dong, Itaewon, and Garosu-gil. Thanks to high-performance shooting equipment such as DSLR, functions such as easy file download via QR code link, and low cost of 4,000 to 8,000 won, photo booths have become a ‘must-have activity course’ for the Korean MZ generation .
After that, fans from overseas became familiar with Korean-style photo booths as K-pop idols used photo booths and posted them on their SNS. Photo booth brands that noticed the demand entered overseas markets and issued frames (photo borders) in collaboration with various K-pop artists, popularizing photo booths -pictured abroad too.
An official from a domestic photo booth brand said, “Selfie booths can bring great joy and satisfaction to users at a very low cost,” adding, “Questions about installing photo booths from Korean brands are will facilitate cooperation with K-pop content received in Asian countries “It is stable,” he said.
Kim Young-ri, Hankyung.com reporter [email protected]
