Korean Startup Smashing Success Despite Not Doing Anything

A young marketer has been shocked by the success of his internet startup this month, going from a simple website to franchised business with five locations, including high-brow locations like Myeongdong, Apgujeong, and Bundang. The catch is, he doesn't even know what he's selling yet.

Shin Hwang-suk started his website about six weeks ago. "I wanted to really catch the wave of what people were talking about -- you know, what's on everybody's minds these days... I conceptualized the website with that in mind, and it looked really bitchin'."

That website started out unknown, but ballooned to over 200 000 visits a day in just three weeks, when businesses started calling.

"The website name is 'Oh My Propose Storypia' and other startup entrepreneurs and venture capitalists really liked what they heard... I didn't have to do any promotion at all, actually. They just approached me," Shin explained, seeming a bit overwhelmed. "They found spaces and wanted to catch the wave before the whole thing played out."

The new stores are ready to open, but as Shin says, there is nothing to put on the shelves. "Really, that doesn't seem to bother these investors. All they cared about was finding hot enough doumi girls to dance outside the store during the grand open."

above photo courtesy of: Superlocal

That seems to be taken care of.

"But do you think customers will be attracted by this marketing plan?" Dokdo Is Ours asked.

"So far there have been hundreds of people per hour walking by to check out the unfinished storefront, ever since the sign with the company name, 'Oh My Propose Storypia' went up."

"Will you be spending money at this place?" Dokdo Is Ours asked several passers-by who stopped to see if the store was open yet.

"Oh sure," Jang, a young lady in her twenties answered.

"What makes this place so attractive to you?"

"There's only English on the sign. Really... it must be pretty elite stuff, you know, to only have English on the sign. They've probably been to America or something. I hope I can buy a t-shirt with their logo on it, because people will think I've been to America, too."

However, there seems to be a snag in Shin's business plan: directly across the street, with even hotter doumi girls, is another startup that has been attracting buzz both with its image-heavy and content-thin webpage, and with the catchy lingo on its colorful sign. Indeed, in today's tough economy, it is questionable whether the market will be resilient enough to bear both "Oh My Propose Storypia" and "Do You Know it's A Virus-holic Zone!" on the same street.



Does Shin think "Do You Know It's a Virus-holic Zone!" will stand a chance against the marketing juggernaut that is "Oh My Propose Story-pia!"? "They're not actually selling anything either, but damn -- their English letters are way bigger than the ones on our sign."
Only the market knows for sure.