“KakaoTalk took off as a mobile messenger, but it will evolve into a platform for information and content, including commerce and online-to-offline (O2O) services,” Lim said. (image: Kakao)
SEOUL, Nov. 16 (Korea Bizwire) – “There are many ‘touchpoints’ in the Kakao platform, and all of (our users’) life moments can be turned into a marketing opportunity,” said Kakao CEO Jimmy Lim, during Tuesday’s Business Conference held in Seoul with advertisers.
The conference was arranged to declare Kakao’s newfound commitment to improving its disappointing advertising revenue by offering a more consumer life-engaging Kakao platform.
The new venture will focus on KakaoTalk, the country’s dominant messaging application with 170 million global users, which will innovate to offer integrated services with other Kakao platforms, making it possible for users to order services, subscribe, and make reservations, all through the mobile messenger.
“KakaoTalk took off as a mobile messenger, but it will evolve into a platform for information and content, including commerce and online-to-offline (O2O) services,” Lim said. “Users will be able to find all the solutions they need for their problems within KakaoTalk.”
“Our O2O services, in particular, will continue to grow, expanding from smart mobility, like KakaoTaxi, to other amenity services (such as healthcare, cleaning, and shopping), by cooperating with outside enterprises,” he added.
Among the new ad products introduced Tuesday was “Cash Friends”, for KakaoPage, a web fiction platform, and Daum Webtoon, an online webcomics service.
Cash Friends is a model that connects ads with daily activities. It offers artificial cash that can be used on KakaoPage and Daum Webtoon to consumers that take part in a specific activity recommended by the advertiser, such as downloading an app or watching an ad, giving advertisers a more effective marketing opportunity.
Kakao also said it will make better use of big data, allowing advertisers to target specific consumer groups based on consumer patterns and interests, while introducing “Kakao Ad Insight” service for advertisers to see in numbers their brand awareness and progress of their advertising goals.
Kakao’s ad revenue for Q3 was 126.9 billion won ($108.8 million), falling far behind its main competitor Naver (749.5 billion won).
By Joseph Shin (jss539@koreabizwire.com)
