SOOP ESG2023

These days, there has been a proliferation of curated donation content where streamers encourages users’ engagement in charity activity.

‘FreshTomato,’ a streamer who focuses on gaming content, created a farming series ‘Tomato Farm.’ Through this content, she operated a tomato farm and live-streamed the entire process, from production to live commerce sales and donated all the proceeds to a social welfare fundraiser. Another game streamer ‘Girlbbo’ hosted a bowling match through ‘Girlbbo’s Love Strike,’ and donated proceeds to the Gwangju Billiard Federation for the fostering of young billiards players by accumulating donations for every strike and spare. Through these new forms of donation content, SOOP is expanding the positive impacts of our contents by spreading a culture of donation that streamers and users can enjoy.

SOOP regularly produces a variety of volunteer content, and we strive to make volunteer activities more popular and enjoyable through the participation of streamers who are familiar with the public. In April 2023, SOOP employees and streamers planted red bean blossom trees under the theme of ‘in Purple Island - Plant a Tree’ in celebration of the Arbor Day. In addition, SOOP employees and streamers conducted volunteer activities at a shelter for stray dogs through the ‘Woof, Meow Volunteering,’ a volunteer content to spread the culture of adopting stray dogs. The content showed how volunteer streamers cleaned the shelter, walked and helped train stray dogs, and spent meaningful time interacting with them. In January 2024, SOOP streamers and employees organized the ‘Sharing Briquettes for Warm Winter’ volunteer event in Guryong Village, Gangnam-gu, Seoul, where they delivered 3,000 briquettes to those in energy poverty.

SOOP is actively utilizing live commerce content to make social contributions. In 2023, SOOP carried out various projects by connecting streamers, businesses, and communities. In particular, SOOP supported digital transformation for small and medium-sized enterprises and revitalized the local economy through live commerce to return profits to the community and form a donation culture.

‘AF Day’ to Convey Love

SOOP designated April 1 as the ‘AF Day’ and ran a participatory commerce program with a buy-one-get-one-free donation concept, in which every user’s purchase of products during the relay live-commerce contents resulted in the same products being donated to children in orphanages. On the AF Day in April 2023, a total of 22 streamers participated in the program in which daily necessities and food-related products were sold and donated to orphanages.

Live Commerce to Revitalize Local Economies

With the goal of revitalizing the local economy, SOOP conducted live commerce to support local SMEs. In January 2023, SOOP collaborated with Jeju Island cosmetics companies to support five Jeju certified cosmetics companies by hosting the ‘Gift of Nature, Jeju Certified Cosmetics Sales King’ live commerce event. The live commerce event was more than just simple product sales and featured the concept of ‘streamers challenging the sales king’ to provide users with a different kind of fun.

In June, SOOP partnered with the Busan Technopark to support online marketing and live commerce for 13 sporting goods SMEs in Korea. SOOP created contents such as advertisements, live talk shows, and experience reviews to help small and medium-sized businesses struggling with COVID-19 make digital transition. In October, SOOP partnered with the Daejeon Information & Culture Industry Promotion Agency to select outstanding food companies fostered by Daejeon Metropolitan City, and conducted live commerce events to help them increase sales and open up new markets opportunities.

SME Digital Transformation Support Project: Money, Donation, UP!

In February 2023, SOOP entered into an MOU with the Small and Medium Business Distribution Center to support the digital transformation of small and medium-sized businesses, helping them to create live commerce content, and to have their products listed on SOOP’s e-commerce platform. In particular, through “Money, Donation, UP!” program(in Korean 돈 기부 업[don-gibu-up]) which is derived from an English expression that sounds like “Don’t give up”), SOOP donated 1% of the sales from small and medium-sized businesses products to public interest organizations in the name of the streamer with the highest cumulative sales. In April, the series continued with a virtual live commerce event, where which a virtual streamer sold products in a 3D virtual classic coffee shop, adding a more immersive experience. Along with the seven ‘Money, Donation, UP!’ events held in 2023, SOOP also organized live commerce events in August, September, and October for small and medium-sized businesses through ‘Newbie Commerce Day’ content.

‘Money, Donation, UP!’ Live Commerce Content in Virtual Space

Donation Concert

Streamers in SOOP have made a positive impact by donating their talents to help their neighbors. They organized donation concerts and donated the proceeds generated from these events. For instance, in January 2023, the girl group ‘MY MOO’ attracted apx.260 thousand people to their concert and donated KRW 10,514,800 in ticket sales. In March, BBORIENDS’ Donation Concert was held to support the victims of an earthquake in Turkuye. In addition, music crew, SOONI Group, held a donation concert in August and donated all ticket proceeds to the Korea Undernourished Children and Youth Support Association.

• MY MOO Concert
• BBORIENDS’ Donation Concert

Visiting Rockes*

‘Rockes’ is a content in which SOOP’s Chief BJ Officer(CBO) ‘BJ Kevin UP’ personally participate to showcase various genres of music content at various locations in Korea, collaborating with music streamers active in SOOP and local organizations/institutions to activate live music content. In January 2023, ‘Rockes’ performed orchestral music in Busan and musicals in Bundang in February.

In particular, in 2023, ‘Rockes’ collaborated with four universities(Dongshin University, Mokpo University, Seokyeong University, and Chung-Ang University) to plan and produce performances involving current students and alumni of various music majors, including the Department of Musical and Practical Music, the Department of Performing Arts, and the Department of Classical Music. With the program above, SOOP discovered talented musicians and supported their promotion on the SOOP platform, and donated a total of KRW 9 million in support for music creation activities to three schools. SOOP will continue to showcase various genres of music to support musicians and contribute to increasing the diversity and accessibility of music content.

Major Rockes Contents for 2023

SOOP has been creating content for local communities, including the ‘BJ Expedition’ project, in which streamers visit local tourist attractions and festivals and share their experiences with users. In 2023, SOOP produced a total of 37 local tourism contents to promote the charm of local attractions and contribute to the revitalization of local economies.

SOOP’s ‘Newbie Zone Expedition’ is part of its new streamer support program in which a select group of streamers visit local landmarks each month to introduce them to users and encourage visits to such landmarks. Furthermore, SOOP produces content to raise historical awareness and convey knowledge about various historical anniversaries and major landmarks through its original content. In 2023, in Newbie Zone Expedition, SOOP featured the Seodaemun Prison and hosted a quiz show in commemoration of the March 1 Independence Movement Day. In following June, the month of patriots and veterans, SOOP featured the War Memorial Hall, a place to honor veterans of the Korean War. SOOP also produced content on the history of Korea and the lives of our ancestors by introducing the Korean Folk village, and revisited historical facts, and cultural values.