This week's marketing news briefing spans a shifting e-commerce payments landscape, an AI ad-accountability dispute, F&B brands leaning into IP-driven experiences, and a logistics safety scare — all stories marketers should have on their radar. Here's a marketer's read on July 22's top stories out of Korea, as compiled by industry outlet i-Boss.
According to WiseApp Retail, Coupang kept the #1 spot in average monthly payment value in South Korea for the first half of 2026, but Naver/Naver Pay closed the gap sharply, reaching 96.5 relative to Coupang. By number of paying users, convenience-store chains GS25 and CU each topped 30 million, ranking #1 and #2, while Coupang trailed in third with 26.1 million — confirming convenience stores' broadening reach.
East Aid is rebuilding the legacy blog service Egloos into M2T, an AI-powered video-to-text platform launching officially in September. Paste in a YouTube link and it auto-restructures the content into writing optimized for search and AI citation. In a 100-day trial, AI-bot visits jumped 18x, from 14,000 to 250,000, and the platform signed up 20 partner channels.
The Korean government's forthcoming national AI service, launching by year-end, will allow advertising and paid upgrades for advanced features. Basic chatbot access and public-sector agents stay free, but companies can pursue subscription or specialized-service conversion once they've built a user base. Debate continues over public-interest standards and data use.
Naver introduced "ADVoost Max" into AI Briefing, letting AI auto-generate ad copy. Advertisers effectively can't pre-approve or edit most of it, and can only review a portion of the copy each Monday — raising the question of who's liable when pricing or promotion details are wrong. The industry is pushing for disclosure of generation logs and a formal dispute process.
Korea's food and beverage industry is shifting away from product-placement-heavy advertising toward experiential marketing built on content IP. Examples include Hanmac's Netflix tie-in, CJ CheilJedang's HMR collaborations, and Ediya's merchandise strategy — all connecting fictional universes and fandoms to products, events, and pop-ups to drive both brand experience and purchase conversion.
Korea's Loan Finance Association reviewed portals, social media, and YouTube in April–May and flagged 7,855 illegal lending ads. Social media accounted for 77.7% of the total, with AI-generated video ads and posts impersonating government financial-support programs identified as tactics exploiting consumer trust.
A fire at Coupang's Incheon fulfillment center put a spotlight on the safety risks of e-commerce mega-hub strategies. Warehouse floor space in Korea's Chungcheong region grew 90% in just four years, and the industry has seen 20 major warehouse fires in the past five years. Korea's transport ministry has launched a task force in response.
The thread running through this week's news is AI's double-edged expansion. AI is a production tool — as with Egloos's M2T rebuild for search-optimized content — but it's also a liability risk, as Naver's AI Briefing shows when it auto-generates ad copy that blurs accountability. Building a review layer for AI-generated content and ad copy now is the safer move.
The second theme is that experience and trust now drive revenue. F&B's IP-driven experiential marketing turns fandom into sales, while the illegal-lending-ad surge and the warehouse fire both show that brand safety and crisis response now directly shape consumer trust. It's worth allocating marketing budget not just to reach, but to trust-building. To go deeper on AI-driven ad platforms and channel strategy, explore Best Partner's services or get in touch.
Four stand out for marketers: the Coupang-vs-Naver Pay payments race, the liability dispute over Naver AI Briefing's auto-generated ad copy, F&B brands' shift to IP-driven experiential marketing, and warehouse fire safety risk.
ADVoost Max lets AI auto-generate ad copy, but advertisers can rarely pre-approve or edit it and can only check part of it each Monday — leaving unclear who is liable when pricing or promotion details are wrong.
Instead of relying on product placement, brands like Hanmac (Netflix tie-in), CJ CheilJedang (HMR), and Ediya (merchandise) connect content universes and fandoms to products, events, and pop-ups to drive both brand experience and conversion.
Safety incidents tied to delivery-speed competition, like the Coupang Incheon fire, directly damage brand trust. Fire-prevention investment and crisis response are now core to brand trust management.
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