Thank You, Samsoon

The hugely popular MBC soap opera, “My Name is Kim Sam-soon,” is pushing up sales for sponsor products featured in the TV series. There is even a TV advertisement that parodies a famous scene from the soap opera.

A related industry source said Sunday that Orion is making a TV ad scheduled to start airing on July 20 for one of their trademark snacks, Choco Pie. The ad will be titled, “Choco Pie – Samsoon Love Version.”

Samsoon (played by Kim Seon-a) and Samsik (played by Hyun Bin), the main characters of the soap opera, meet at the top of Mt. Halla in an episode aired on July 13. There, Samsik hands Samsoon a Choco Pie to snack on. Orion’s TV ad parodies this scene.

Orion made this TV ad in just one day on July 14, the day after the Halla Mountain scene aired. Comedians Kim Hyun-sook and Son Hun-soo act as Samsoon and Samsik, respectively, in the ad. Lee Hwa-gyeong, CEO of the entertainment sector of the Orion group, is said to have ordered the advertisement after seeing the Choco Pie scene in “Samsoon” on TV.

Another product enjoying the soap opera’s popularity is the book Momo, which Samsik reads to his niece in the TV series.

Momo ranked first in the Korean Publishers Society survey of book sales for the second week of July (July 6 to 12) at the Kyobo bookstore, YES24, and nine other off- or on-line bookstores. That is a huge leap from 16th place in the first week of the month.

Momo publisher Biryongso Co. plans to make full use of the “Samsoon effect” in Momo by marketing it, for instance, using the advertisement headline, “The book Samsik read.”

Homemade cookies and bread also are enjoying increasing demand as Samsoon is a pastry baker in the soap opera.

According to an online market, Auction, sales for homemade cookies and bread more than doubled to over 900 pieces after the July 13 episode aired.

Kim Hyun-sook of Cookiemori, a baking school, said that twice as many people have asked about taking classes since the TV series began.

kimhs@donga.com