Trans_Spacebranding


Jooyun Kim's 
Spacebranding vol.01


"Gentle Monster introduced <Secret Neighbors> trans_space branding in 2016, which connects stories in different international cities."


< Marvel's Storytelling >
Marvel's film is known for its transmedia storytelling. One worldview unfolds on various platforms. The stories of each platform share a worldview and character, but each has a different story. Independent but organically connected content becomes one great narrative. The narrative of each superhero character is independent. However, the characters converge to the giant platform <Avengers> and create a three-dimensional experience.1)


< Trans_Space Branding >
Eyewear Gentle Monster is well known for its aggressive space branding. In February 2021, its parent company 'I. I. Combined', launched a new dessert brand called Nudake. Next to Dosan Park in Gangnam-gu, 'House Dosan' was prepared to showcase "Gentle Monster" and Cosmetics brand 'Tamburins' in one space under the concept of "Future Retail."  https://www.gentlemonster.com/stories/haus-dosan/

하우스도산
House Dosan © Jooyun Kim

Nudake © Jooyun Kim

Interestingly, Gentle Monster conducted a trans-space branding that connected stories in different spaces. It is a 2016 campaign called "Secret Neighbors". The unique story of art forgery is connected to Daegu, South Korea, and Beijing, China, to the flagship store. The concept story of the store is as follows.


< Secret Neighbors Campaign >
Three main characters, Tony Train, Eli Sebastian, and David Sakai, who disappeared while faking famous works in protest against society, are Secret Neighbors. As childhood friends, they hid in Daegu, Beijing, and Los Angeles, respectively, and communicated through correspondence. Each of the three characters had different roles: Tony drew the forgery, Eli was in charge of the forgery trade, and David procures the necessary pigments and materials for the forgery. Each base in Daegu, Beijing, and Los Angeles is the only clue and important evidence to find traces of their activities.2)


2016 GENTLE MONSTER OFFICIAL 'Secret Neighbors' CAMPAIGN SERIES


< Secret Laundry >
With this story, the first trans-space flagship space had opened in Daegu in May 2016. The concept of Daegu Store was David Sakai's Secret Laundry. While operating a laundry under the hood, his secret workspaces hidden behind the camouflage were staged with elements reminiscent of the traces and existence of David Sakai. The first floor was a disguised laundry, the second floor was a place where David worked on cultureㅇ plant and mineral collection to produce pigments needed for forgery, and the third floor was a laboratory filled with research documents and reagents from cultured plants. 


First Floor Laundry © Gentle Monster


Second Floor Pigment Cultured Plant © Gentle Monster


Third Floor Laboratory © Gentle Monster


< Secret Apartment >
Simultaneously with the Daegu store, in May 2016, the second Trans-Space franchise opened in Sanlitun, a hot place in Beijing. This is the apartment of Tony Train, an artist who forges masterpieces. With the concept of <Secret Apartment>, you have to interpret the password from the entrance to the narrow apartment-like structure and press the button to enter the next space. It consists of a living room, a dressing room, a kitchen, a workspace, a bathroom, and a hidden workshop. Living space is easy to see, but hidden space is not easy for customers to find, so customers have an interesting experience like a room escape game.3)


2016 GENTLE MONSTER BEIJING FLAGSHIP STORE 'SECRET APARTMENT'


Visitors will be aware of the concept story of the flagship store, and customers who are interested in the story will have a desire to visit the space of another city that has a story connected to which store they visited first. Gentle Monster has presented a new, very unique space branding method in which stores in two distant cities are connected as a single story. It is regrettable that Eli Sebastian's trans-space space has not been built in Los Angeles to complete the story. However, Gentle Monster introduced a fresh and new way of trans-space branding for the first time.







<Summaries>

"Gentle Monster introduced <Secret Neighbors> trans-space branding in 2016, which connects stories in different international cities."

"Marvel's movie is trans-media storytelling. A worldview unfolds in a variety of platforms(movies). The narrative of each superhero character is independent. However, the characters converge on the giant platform Avengers, creating a three-dimensional experience."

"The story is about the three main characters who disappeared while working for a forgery of a famous work. Each had a role, Tony drew the forgery, Eli was in charge of the forgery trade, and David procured the pigments and materials needed for the forgery."

"Each base in Daegu, Beijing, and Los Angeles is the only clue to finding traces of their activities and is the flagship store of Gentle Monster as important evidence."

"Visitors get to know the concept story of the flagship store. Interested in the story, customers have a desire to visit the space of another city where the story is linked to which store they visited first."


1) 백정현 , 이규탁 , 이반 자오 , 허남웅 , 박진수 지음, “브랜드의 브랜드”, 스리체어스, 2020.7.22
2) Fashion Insight, "'젠틀몬스터', 은신처 '세탁소' 공개하다", 2016.5.9, from http://www.fi.co.kr/main/view.asp?idx=55097
3) 포럼에이, "상업공간의 진화를 보여주다. 새로운 설렘과 호기심 가득한 <젠틀몬스터 쇼룸(SHOW ROOM)> ", 2016.9.1, from http://froma.co.kr/130 [fromA 프럼에이]


Jooyun Kim

jykim@hongik.ac.kr




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