It all began in a quiet street in Amsterdam with an unusually excited group of young people. Curious, AmorePacific CEO Suh Kyung-Bae decided to follow them. From the way they were behaving he thought they must be on their way to see something really special. The group eventually turned toward what looked like a factory and Suh found himself outside the Heineken Experience, the Dutch brewing company’s visitor centre. He decided to see what all the fuss was about.
Walking around the attraction and observing the reactions of that group as well as other visitors, he noticed that he was connecting with the Heineken story in a powerful way. And so an idea was born.
Established in 1945 with a clear aim to present its unique perception of beauty – Asian beauty – to the world, AmorePacific had an engaging story to tell. Suh knew it now needed its own visitor centre to connect with people in the same way that he’d experienced in Amsterdam.
The result is Story Garden by AmorePacific, a 10,000sq ft (929sq m) attraction that charts the company’s 70-year attempt to “find true beauty” and which has also now found wider acclaim by winning an attractions industry award.
In bestowing an Outstanding Achievement accolade at its annual awards, the Themed Entertainment Association (TEA) said that Story Garden “elevates the experience of a brand visitor centre to the highest artistic and emotional standard – a stunning new standard for Asia and the world”.
Story-driven connection
As soon as Suh had completed his unexpected education on beer, he took the first step in bringing his idea to fruition by asking the front desk who had created such an immersive experience. Soon after, a call was made to design firm BRC Imagination Arts and the brief to create a story-driven visitor centre and tour in South Korea was handed over.
It was the first time BRC had ever worked with a skincare company. “We had to understand the brand particulars: the deep thought that goes into every design decision, every choice of material, the packaging and the quality of the natural ingredients that are pure botanicals found only in specific locations across Asia,” explains Christian Lachel, executive creative director & vice president at BRC.
Suh wanted Story Garden visitors to come away with a sense of the heritage, story and values of AmorePacific, and to feel connected to the brand. This would be achieved through a series of sensory experiences, including exhibits, immersive media, interpretive art installations and contemplative spaces that engage the senses, according to Lachel.
The visitor centre and tour would tell the story of the founding of the company by Suh’s father and highlight the qualities that make the company unique. Lachel says: “We really wanted it to be a walk through the core values – such as striving for improvement, being open to new ideas and contributing to society as a whole – to give guests an emotional sense of AmorePacific’s foundation and mission.”
A unifying theme for the attraction soon became clear – summed up as ‘Beauty is a gift that can transform our world’.
Inspirational scenes
Story Garden opened in late 2013 and is located at AmorePacific’s Beauty Campus, the company’s largest integrated production and logistics centre that brings together skincare manufacturing lines, distribution warehouses, as well as a botanic garden and art museum. The campus itself was established in Osan, South Korea, in May 2012.
The attraction ended up being organised around three central elements – story, special design and on-site experiences. Every detail has been carefully crafted, right up to a custom musical score, which includes a new company anthem and a Korean pop song.
After guests take a tour of the garden and nature-inspired art installations, representing the company’s roots in Asian beauty and nature’s wisdom, they proceed through 10 sequential ‘scenes’ that form the core of the Story Garden experience.
The first sequence is designed to create the sensation of being in a modern art gallery, with paintings projected on the wall. “As the story unfolds, the gallery transforms into a 200-degree, multi-projector blended immersive media experience that surrounds the audience on three sides,” enthuses Lachel. “Finally, the front wall lifts, revealing the humble country kitchen of the company’s founder where nearly 70 years ago he watched his mother ‘cook’ skincare products on the home stove, providing the inspiration behind AmorePacific.”
Another sequence, The Gift of Nature, highlights the main Asian ingredients of AmorePacific products: camellia seeds, green tea, red ginseng and bamboo. “Guests look out over the factory floor and learn about the beauty products being produced that day,” explains Lachel.
The tour ends with Beauty Transforms Our World, a large-scale immersive multimedia experience that integrates elements of projection mapping and aims to let visitors become part of the story. “Photographs they uploaded earlier in their journey appear among the final images, creating an additional grace note to a colourful, engaging and emotional experience that connects the heart of every guest with the heart of AmorePacific,” says Lachel.
Brand benefits
It’s this emotional impact that Lachel is most proud of. “A testament of great design is that people come away feeling inspired and enlightened, feeling that they can make a difference in the world. Story Garden does that,” he says.
The AmorePacific story encompasses themes such as love, the importance of making people smile, giving those in rough conditions a sense of beauty and the impact of war. “This is more than just a story about a skincare company. This is a story about Korea, a story about the empowerment of women and their ability to have jobs,” says Lachel. “Founder Suh was a pioneer. His son has now grown his father’s vision into an amazing company that’s taking those same values worldwide.”
At the end of the experience, visitors receive a personalised gift bag with a custom lipstick as a souvenir of the brand connection they have hopefully made.
“We wanted to create a personalised piece for each visitor in a way that feels organic and worthy of AmorePacific,” says Lachel. “When visitors first come in, they enter their personal responses on a hand-held device. This allows them to have a custom experience throughout their journey, culminating in their appearance in the film at the end.”
As well as winning the TEA award, success has been measured by the tangible impact Story Garden has had on people who have taken the tour.
“Visitors – especially our international visitors – are amazed by the 70-year history,” AmorePacific states. “They appreciate the interactive experiences, where they can touch, feel, smell, see and create the Asian beauty vision.”
As the number of luxury brands continues to grow around the world, Lachel believes there is an opportunity for other skincare companies to create an experience similar to Story Garden. “There’s a lot of ritual, mythology and storytelling that goes into building luxury brands. There’s an all-new market, especially in Asia, for these types of experiences,” he says. “People care more when they understand the story, when they can participate in it.”
Perhaps someday in the future another curious CEO will stumble across excited faces in South Korea and decide to see where they are going and a new storytelling journey might begin.
