Mushinsa and Jigeuljaegeul

Date
Jun 24, 2026
Classification
  1. Marketing/Branding/Planning/Design
Somako / MARKETING RESEARCH LAB
[Advertisement]

The situation where the Musinsa vs. Zigzag battle has turned into a free billboard.

#AmbushMarketing #ParodyAd #CommentMarketing #TrendDetection #BrandCharacter

🫑 3-Line Summary

With the summer sale season upon us, Musinsa and Zigzag engaged in a blatant diss battle on Instagram, garnering significant public attention and traffic.
Zigzag countered Musinsa's provocation by issuing duplicate Musinsa coupons and slogan parody banners, cleverly connecting a mere war of words to increased traffic to its app and actual sales trends.
As other brands such as Carrot, Kakao Pay, and SPAO joined the fray with witty comments, leveraging their identities as assets, the comment section evolved into a massive marketing stage that costs not a single penny.
In addition, a few months ago, a massive festival of free marketing took place in the comment section of the first video on Chungju Man Kim Seon-tae's independent YouTube channel, as various brands such as Woori Bank, Mega Coffee, and Simmons Bed joined the fray by sending advertising offers with witty comments. Recently, this phenomenon has also been appearing frequently on online threads. Overseas, companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi have also been conducting this type of viral marketing extensively.

🥦 Insight

A Clever Counter-Intuitive Strategy to Turn Provocation into Money
Instead of emotionally retaliating against the opponent's attack, the flexibility to transform it into an enjoyable event to attract users to our service stands out. When unexpected external issues arise, marketers and planners must first calculate how to connect them to conversion metrics for our business, rather than simply consuming them for the hype.
The allure of opportunistic exposure brought about by a prepared brand character
Brands like Danggeun or KakaoPay, which have established their own distinct style and identity over time, easily become the protagonists even on a stage set by others. Even a small team without a massive advertising budget can achieve tremendous promotional effects simply by adding their own unique voice to a well-prepared meal, provided they possess a sharp, distinctive brand identity.
Quick wit and a sense of context guarding the crossroads of buzz
Hot comment sections with high traffic serve as the ultimate playground for flexible brands to showcase themselves at no cost. For practitioners, a nimble antenna that keenly senses where public interest is heading and, the moment the opportunity arises, casts a line that fits the occasion without crossing the line becomes a powerful weapon.

🥄 A spoonful of execution

Check if your brand's social media accounts or services have a unique tone (concept). If a funny commotion breaks out and sets the internet ablaze tomorrow morning, let's lightly imagine what witty line our team could use to step onto that stage and enjoy the festival together.

—— View Original ——

When the summer sale season comes around, fashion platforms usually compete with discount rates.
However, this Musinsa vs. Zigzag showdown was a bit different.
The two companies openly took aim at each other and waged a 'diss war' on Instagram.
Thousands of likes and hundreds of comments were posted, and a huge crowd of onlookers gathered.
However, the one who actually laughed the hardest in this fight was neither Musinsa nor Zigzag.
They were quirky brands like Carrot and Kakao Pay that sneaked into the gathering where people had come to watch the fight.
What on earth happened?
Want to read this article to the end? Click!
Please click (touch) the link block below.
Go to the platform where the article was written.
(* Separate registration may be required depending on the platform.)
Collaboration Proposals / Business Inquiries: hello@startlounge.kr
IR/Pitch deck manufacturing inquiries: hello@pitchmound.kr
Everything about startups . Start Lounge - Launch Pad 「Lunch Pad」
ⓒ 2026. Start lounge. All rights reserved.