A Korean beef brand implies that the beef to which it is given is a safe, reliable product produced by a Korean beef producer equipped with a consistent management system capable of supplying reliable quantities of safe beef to consumers. With the rec...
A Korean beef brand implies that the beef to which it is given is a safe, reliable product produced by a Korean beef producer equipped with a consistent management system capable of supplying reliable quantities of safe beef to consumers. With the recent opening of the Korean market to American beef, the Korean beef industry is facing the fiercest level of competition it has seen yet. Partly in response to this increased competition, the Korean beef brands are making their best efforts to retain customers loyal to the brand by improving the reliability of the beef brands. In particular, the large discount department stores as well as online shopping and the accompanying increase in the volume of home delivery service required have established themselves as the main venues of selling and distribution in the industry. Packaging standards determined by the Agency for Technology and Standards under the Ministry of Information and Economics in 2005 are disregarded by consumers and distributors due to inadequate advertising efforts and the lack of efficient control. The door-to-door delivery of products bearing the Korean beef brands must be quick and accurate, ensuring the maintenance of the suitable temperatures throughout the delivery process. There is, however, a dearth of studies on the designs of packages for beef products that are important parts of visual communication of brand images. In order to examine the designs of packages used in the door-to-door delivery Korean beef products currently available in the market, this study selected the six brand packages for representing the collective Korean beef brands in six regions, all under the supervision of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation. They are: Hanuram of Gyeonggi-do; Hairok of Gangwon-do; Cheongpungmyeongwol of Chungcheonbuk-do; Tobau of Chungcheongnam-do; Sunhanhanu of Jeollanam-do; and Hanujiye of Gyeongsangnam-do. Most of these Korean beef brands had insufficient appreciation for the importance of package designs in shaping and communicating their brand images. Their package designs even failed to expose the brands adequately to the public. The packages of some brands were inadequate even in terms of protecting products they contained. The investigation involved the purchase of the products bearing these brands on the Internet and the analysis of the materials, structures, and graphic designs of the packages and their inefficient contribution to the advancement of the brands they represent. In terms of the materials and structures used in the packages, plastic wrap used to pack individual items was not sufficient to prevent the items from changing in quality. The insulating materials used as inner packages touching the meat directly changed the color of the meat, appalling consumers who received them. The brands also used as the outer packing materials conventional Styrofoam, without making any efforts to make them visually appealing and differentiated. To overcome some of these disadvantageous effects, packing materials themselves need to change. Individual packaging should involve vacuum packing or gas substitution. Inner package materials should include corrugated cardboard or 우드락 between the insulator and the meat so that the coldness from the insulator would not directly teach the individual wrapper surrounding the meat. The outer packing material should be given more effective graphic designs and visual effects, combining Styrofoam with corrugated cardboard boxes or double PVC-vinyl wrapping. Graphic designs in the current packing materials also revealed some problems, including the fact that the brand logos were shown only using small stickers attached to the individual and inner packing materials and the fact that the outer packing materials did not bear effective graphic designs. To maximize the exposure of the brands to consumers, double-wrapping, ribbons, and double stickers should be used for individual and inner packing materials. Plastic ribbons, corrugated cardboard boxes, fabrics, and so forth may also be added to the outer pacing materials. The overall package should also use much of the main colors used in the brand logos. The difficulties and limits of this study partly arose from the fact that not all of the 202 Korean beef brands provided clear evidence of channels of distribution and sales. This study also did not conduct any consumer polls regarding the package designs currently available in the market. While these difficulties may not have amounted to much had the selected brands used similar package designs, the selected brands in reality used incomparably different packing designs and materials, making it difficult to prepare objective data necessary to forming polling questions. If supplemented with objective data and further, more thorough investigations and analyses, this study could nonetheless contribute much to increasing the income levels of the Korean beef ranchers and industry struggling to overcome the effects of recent competition from overseas beef.