Nongshim’s Banana Kick, a classic Korean snack, saw related online searches rise by up to 325%, and it wasn’t driven by a big media budget. It came from the brand’s reply to a home video a parent posted. The case, shared by Korean marketing research group Somaco on Mobiinside, shows the step most user-generated content (UGC) strategies skip.
The clip showed a toddler hugging a Banana Kick bag almost as big as their body, leaning back as if someone might take it. Nobody paid for it or asked for it; it was an ordinary family evening.
Oh Young-joo of Nongshim’s snack marketing team spotted it while searching the brand on social media on the way to work and didn’t let it go. Nongshim made a custom giant bag taller than the child (about 80 cm), filled with roughly 20 retail bags’ worth of snacks, sent it, and filmed the child’s reaction.
The first video passed 26.7 million views on Instagram. But the more important figure was search: related online searches jumped by up to 325% during the campaign. People didn’t just laugh; they typed the product name into a search bar.
The cost structure matters too. The original video was made voluntarily by a consumer, and Nongshim’s spend was mostly the cost of making and sending one giant bag. No media was bought for reach.
It’s well established that consumers trust peer content. Citing Meta data, Batcrew reports UGC-based ads average a click-through rate 2.4x that of brand-made content.
Yet most UGC strategies stop at monitoring: collecting mentions, screenshotting reviews for reports, counting organic mentions. Nongshim went further. Consumer content becomes an asset not when a brand finds it, but when the brand replies.
“Rather than just sending a few boxes of snacks, I wanted to give the child a gift they’d remember,” Oh said. A volume-based reply is just a giveaway; people say thanks but don’t post again. A reply built around that person’s moment makes them create again. The question to ask isn’t how much to send, but whether the recipient will want to film it.
“A heartwarming campaign” won’t win next quarter’s budget. Nongshim’s case holds up because it measured a behavior: search. Korean fashion company LF saw a similar effect when it ran its YouTube channel directly, growing new subscribers 64% year over year and lifting visitor-to-subscriber conversion 84%.
Set up three measures before you reply:
For more ways to turn creator content into paid assets, see Pinterest Lets Brands Promote Creator Pins Without a Prior Sponsorship Deal. For choosing the right partners, read Influencer Selection Is About Choosing the Conversion Context, Not Just the Person — Five Checks for IMC Campaigns.
The first video passed 26.7 million Instagram views, and related online searches rose by up to 325% during the campaign.
Don’t stop at finding good content. Reply to the creator with something memorable and personal that makes them want to create and share again.
Track brand search volume before and after, the number of follow-up posts consumers create, and traffic from that content.
To apply what you just read to your own site, start with a free audit of where things are now.
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