SK Telecom is hosting an exhibition titled ‘It’s Your Day – This Birthday Cafe’s Main Character is You!’ where customers can experience creating a celebratory advertisement and a birthday cafe firsthand. The exhibition will be held from May 2 for two months at T Factory, an ICT cultural space located in Hongdae, Seoul.

SKT planned this exhibition in response to the recent trend among young people of posting birthday advertisements for K-pop artists or running birthday cafes. This exhibition aims to encourage young individuals to use T Factory as a special space to celebrate important anniversaries with themselves, family, partners, and friends.

The exhibition experience consists of two parts: ▲Creating and broadcasting outdoor advertisements and ▲An anniversary cafe experience where visitors receive limited-edition commemorative goods alongside specially made cakes and beverages. The advertisement production experience is free of charge, while broadcasting, goods production, and food and beverage services range from 10,000 to 16,000 KRW for material costs.

Visitors participating in the exhibition can access a dedicated mobile website to choose one advertisement from 12 templates and create their own ads. The completed advertisements can be broadcast on outdoor advertising displays, such as those set up in subway stations and bus stops within T Factory.

After the advertisement creation experience, customers will have the chance to create commemorative goods such as cup holders and photo cards while enjoying the cafe. Customers at the cafe will be served special cakes and drinks made in collaboration with ‘Aufgut’, a popular cafe brand among young people.

T Factory has been hosting various experiential exhibitions themed on trends among young people, including vintage cameras, traditional liquors, and gaming since last year. Recently, it garnered positive feedback with an exhibition aimed at helping young individuals break free from dopamine addiction by encouraging them to stop using their smartphones and engage in activities like reading and meditation.

Additionally, T Factory strengthens its engagement with young audiences through various events like ‘Dukcon’ and ‘FilmTalk’. Dukcon is a small concert held every month for so-called ‘true fans,’ which has continued up to the 111th event in April this year, establishing itself as one of T Factory’s signature programs. FilmTalk is a talk concert that explores the filmographies of popular actors, featuring top stars such as Jung Woo-sung, Lee Je-hoon, and Han Ji-min.

Kim Sang-beom, head of SKT distribution, stated, “We planned this exhibition to enable young people to experience the birthday advertising and birthday cafe culture that have become a significant part of their play culture. We will continue to strive for empathy and communication with young people through T Factory.”

Lee Sang-jin daedusj@autodiary.kr