Seoul | Cute mascots are a must for brands and governments in Asia – including Moli, the cuddly bear from a South Korean bank. The bank developed a Moli themed cafe with excellent digital signage touchpoints and and a purpose: the majority of employees who work in the café are hearing impaired. An invidis site inspection.
Shinhan Bank, the oldest South Korean bank, also known as SOL, opened Cafe Swith Sol a few weeks ago, a themed cafe based around the company’s mascot Moli. In the middle of Seoul’s pedestrian zone in the Myeongdong district, customers and children can expect more than just another lobby cafe in a bank branch. Cafe Swith Sol is a great entertainment cafe, co-working space and more than just another ESG activity from a major company.
Integrated digital signage (LED, displays and projection) not only provide great entertainment, ambience and an information platform, but also enable smooth communication with hearing impaired employees via touchscreen and order terminals.
The entrance area is dominated by two immersive LED rooms, which are equipped with ultra-fine pixel LEDs from floor to ceiling. The LED experiences are highly visible from the street through the large window area and attract children and adults. After passing the immersive rooms customers then enter the cafe, which is dominated by wood and pastel tones.
Orders are only placed via order kiosk systems while a menu board with large-format LCD displays behind the counter provides additional information about the day’s offers. The mascot Moli can be found everywhere, whether as a stuffed bear for the children or animated in digital signage content. In a Moli fan corner, customers can purchase Moli merchandise at a vending machine, take selfies with Moli at a photo booth or experience Moli’s story on a projected book.
Even the small picture frames on the wall are all equipped with displays and show changing motifs from Moli. Regardless of whether you are a fan of Moli or not, the staging and installations are top notch – and for a good cause. We would like to see more of this.