RAWGA, the secret of natural beauty
Interview with Raw Kim, CEO, RAWGA
You took part in SIAL Paris in 2022... how did your show go?
We participated in SIAL Paris for the first time in 2022, and in our first year of participation, we were the first Korean company to win the Grand Prize in the raw materials category. During the exhibition, we had meetings with more than 100 companies and were able to identify buyers' requirements and refine our business a little more.
Did you experience a "SIAL Innovation" effect?
We were located in the Korean Pavilion, far away from the "SIAL Innovation" display, but most of the visitors to our booth came to our booth because they saw the "SIAL Innovation" display and the magazine published by SIAL. Considering that we did not advertise, we believe that many of the visitors who came to our booth were due to "SIAL Innovation".
Did you notice an increase in your sales as a result of this award and the visibility it brought?
More than 50% of our current sales are from companies that saw us at SIAL Paris, whether they had a meeting with us on site or simply saw us in the SIAL magazine, but they remembered us and contacted us first, which was the beginning of a deal that led to a sale.
Did you change your marketing/communication strategy when you won the SIAL Innovation prize?
Work about our innovative vegetable collagen source, but after winning, we changed our strategy to showcase the award first. When we used the award to communicate, we were able to effectively explain why we were innovative.
What made your brand successful?
We are the first in the world to implement Vegetable collagen, so we have a solid technology and studies based on years of research. We also have an integrated process of vertically integrating all fields to create a plant-based collagen business. Our botanical collagen is organically grown directly from the plants it is extracted from and is safely produced in a HACCP-certified facility in Korea.
Have you changed your business model?
We have expanded our business from the raw material business to the brand business. We started the brand business to effectively communicate the strengths of our ingredients not only to B2B buyers but also to B2C consumers who consume them as actual products. The brand is a 2IN1 concept that combines botanical collagen with additional functional ingredients, and currently has 9 SKUs.
And looking back, what did you retain from your experience at SIAL Paris?
SIAL Paris was an important exhibition that taught us how to market effectively at trade shows. We realised the need for marketing at the exhibition, so in 24th SIAL Paris, we will have an exclusive booth of 36m² to showcase our brand identity, and we will sign an ADVERTISING 1 FULL PAGE DAY 1-2 contract to promote it through SIAL magazine. And we want to challenge SIAL Innovation in 24th year because we felt the high interest of 'SIAL Innovation' ourselves.
