How to Create New Value from What Already Exists: The Perspective Behind Museum Goods
Session Overview
In a fast-moving market, marketers are constantly expected to find something new. But does new value always have to come from something completely new?
MU:DS, the National Museum of Korea's museum goods brand, offers a different perspective. By transforming cultural heritage that is hundreds — even thousands — of years old into products for today's consumers, the brand has discovered new value in things that have existed for generations.
Through real product development cases based on artifacts from the National Museum of Korea, this session explores how marketers can look at familiar things with fresh eyes, preserve their original essence, and still create products and experiences that resonate with today's audiences.
Key Topics
- Why marketers are always searching for something "new" — and whether novelty itself is really the goal
- How to look at familiar cultural assets through a fresh, contemporary perspective
- How MU:DS preserves the essence of cultural heritage while redesigning the consumer experience
- How long-lasting brands continue to evolve without losing their identity
New value does not always come from something completely new.
When a brand protects the essence of what already exists
while reimagining the experience around it,
even something centuries old can become relevant,
desirable and meaningful today.
Speaker
Under her leadership, MU:DS has introduced a wide range of popular products inspired by artifacts held by the National Museum of Korea and other national museums.
Products such as the Pensive Bodhisattva miniature, color-changing cups inspired by traditional paintings, and magpie-and-tiger badges have helped redefine the public perception of museum merchandise.
Her work explores how cultural heritage can move beyond the physical museum space and become something people can experience in everyday life through products, design and storytelling.
She is also the author of Today's Sense.