KaKao

Kakao Friends were born that way

 

In June 2012, the number of KakaoTalk users exceeded 50 million. As the company ascended the commonly recognized "national messenger" ladder, its woes were all about providing a better messenger experience. In July, the Brand Experience (BX) team was organized to upgrade chat experiences and materialize Kakao's brand image. In IT companies, developers or planners are usually in charge of that task, but in the BX team, designers had to do it. 

 

# Assistant in the chatroom

BX team's research indicated that unlike emojis of the Western messengers, the KakaoTalk-specific emoticons conveying rich emotional expressions would create a chat experience and a brand image at the same time. It was a time when webtoon emoticons released in November 2011 also made a big splash on KakaoTalk.

 

Development strategies for characters are set as follows: ▲ Self-planned characters will be made into emoticons and released in the KakaoTalk chatroom. ▲ Characters aim to provide a pleasant and rich chat experience and create likability toward Kakao. ▲ Each character should be born with a few deficiencies to mirror themselves in the characters easily.

 

At that time, Kakao did not have in-house illustrators. So it began embodying the characters by contracting with the artist Hojo, who played to his strengths in expressing emotions. The company had to select materials that were not preoccupied in advance by others, while the primary KakaoTalk users, from teenagers to 30s, could have a good feeling for them. Firstly, the company organized a lineup with a dog (Frodo), cat (Neo), rabbit (Muzi), and duck (Tube).

 

To reflect the various personalities of users, additional characters such as a neutral peach (Apeach), a silent mole (Jay-G), and an expressionless helper, crocodile (Con), were created with a focus on personalities that the previously created characters did not have. In September, two months after starting the development work, the seven ‘friends’ were nearing completion.

 

 

#Soft landing on the Korean Peninsula after making a debut in Japan

However, the ‘friends’ couldn't appear on the KakaoTalk right away in Korea.

 

Here's Zoey's memory, who led the production of Kakao Friends. "The webtoon emoticons that had already been introduced on the market were creating an ecosystem, so there was fierce debate over whether it was right to roll out the Kakao Friends characters designed by Kakao. From what I can see now, the characters came to harmonize so well within the open market ecosystem while being synergistic, but it was tough to tell what would happen at that time. It was unprecedented for an internet platform operator to bring its own characters to the forefront. Moreover, many reviews pointed out that our characters were not adorable. That was why we couldn't embed the Kakao Friends characters immediately in the KakaoTalk chatroom."

 

Just as the free calling feature appeared on the Japanese version of KakaoTalk, the debut stage of Kakao Friends was set in Japan. At that time, Kakao was trying to spread KakaoTalk among Japanese users. Japan served as a testbed but witnessed neither positive nor negative responses. On November 2, 2012, Kakao Friends quietly came upon the stage of KakaoTalk in Korea.

# For the five months, people who knew about 'Kakao Dog' hardly realized its real name was 'Frodo.'

The more users updated KakaoTalk, the more intimate Kakao Friends became. However, each character's name or universe never attracted users' attention. About five months glided on, during which people didn't understand what 'Frodo' or 'Tube' meant but became aware of 'Kakao Dog' or 'Kakao Duck.'

 

Then, on April 22, 2013, an affair hinting at the sprout of 'national characters' took place. A thousand Kakao Friends rag dolls, made as pilot products to test their business value, were all sold out via KakaoTalk Gifts only 7 hours after the release. Strangely, the out-of-stock merchandise was reselling for several times the regular price at online second-hand markets.

 

Users were still least aware of character names, backgrounds, or behind-the-scenes stories. Still, it was already long after they had projected images of themselves or close acquaintances onto Kakao Friends in the KakaoTalk chatroom.

 

Zoey recalled, "Previously, characters had gained popularity, unfolding their narratives and personalities through TV programs and cartoons. However, our characters were in a completely different situation. Kakao Friends had their own point of view; however, regardless of which perspectives they carried, users imagined stories about the characters in their own ways. That exerted enormous power. We were convinced that Kakao Friends served as a strong platform that could develop narratives together with users."

# Ryan, the healer, finally appeared

The heavy KakaoTalk users in their teens to 30s generally mirrored themselves onto the seven Kakao Friends characters that had appeared earlier than Ryan. That's why all of these characters have deficiencies, big or small, and clearly express feelings of youth such as joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. In contrast, Ryan, who joined the ranks of these characters 3 years and 2 months later, looks quite gentle. Ryan was born as an heir to the throne but confused by his maneless appearance, unlike other lions. Eventually, Ryan escaped from the Doong Doong Island and made friends with the seven Kakao Friends characters in the Secret Forest.

 

Is it because of the inherited dignity? Ryan pats a one's shoulder with an expressionless face or sits still as if nothing ever happened when other characters wear their hearts on their sleeves. That's why the KakaoTalk users easily take comfort from Ryan, unlike they reflect their ego onto the seven Kakao Friends characters. Ryan embraces teenagers and middle-aged people who tend to feel a sense of distance from the IT service.

 

The Kakao Friends Universe further achieved balance as Ryan, an outstanding healer, finally appeared. At the time of planning, the other version of Ryan, a 'bad boy,' was also created but lost its raison d'etre as the first version shortly gained eye-popping popularity.

# Synergies are intensified

Kakao Friends, along with the emoticons starting earlier, enriched emotional expressions in the chatroom and created an unprecedented digital item market. Besides, character merchandise, which first debuted with four types of stuffed toys in April 2013, has expanded into a character business with 30 dedicated offline stores at home and abroad, starting with the first pop-up store of Shinchon in April 2014.

 

Kakao formed an in-house illustrator team in August 2013 and buckled down to expanding the IP business. In January 2016, Ryan was introduced to the market, and then at the end of the year, the ‘Little Friends’. With their appearance, the Kakao Friends Universe has been further strengthened.

 

Owing to three-dimensional interactions, Kakao Friends surpassed other manga or animation-based characters that had built up narratives for a long time and ranked first on the list of the most favored characters by Koreans. Kakao Friends that have topped the list since 2017 are the only characters born on mobile and have never fallen out of the top 10 list. Kakao Friends have achieved far more than originally planned and now are exerting a considerable influence.

 

Here is Zoey's impression.

"They were born in an Internet company, not a character company. That's why they could have continued 'bold ventures.' They only needed to prove that KakaoTalk was a decent communication tool, without any other limit. They had the double advantage of being exposed to users both widely and continuously, all the more so because they were born in the national messenger platform. Besides, they were least influenced by the prejudice that character-themed merchandise was entirely for children. As we all know, even the elderly also use KakaoTalk every day. People, inside and outside, no longer raise why Kakao carries on the character IP business. We just got accustomed to the way Kakao does, just like Disney or Sanrio. As Kakao Friends came into the world in an entirely new fashion when people needed something to convey their feelings and stories on their behalf, I hope that they could play a significant role in helping the new media become a game-changer."

 

# The simple little memories about Kakao Friends

The Little Friends were not welcome internally, just like when Kakao Friends was first introduced. It was because of concerns that the entire characters might look excessively young. For this reason, Little Friends had to wait even another year before coming into the world after the completion. However, they are now loved by all ages.

 

Not immediately did Ryan rise to the top after its birth. At that time, Muzi was enjoying enormous popularity. The BX team that worried about too little interest in Ryan even tried to tip the balance towards it several times, but only to be rejected. Luckily, such situations did not last so long, and Ryan has acquired nicknames such as 'Director Ryan,' 'Executive Director Ryan,' and the like.

 

On September 11, 2020, Kakao Friends welcomed a new little member. While walking along the street, Ryan found a kitten playing in a crate, misunderstood him as abandoned, and even adopted him on the spot. As of the publication date, the kitten only appears on Ryan's Instagram. Ryan's fans named him Choonsik.