[Baby & Kids] Hans Pumpkin, in its 17th year: Why it continues to be a favorite among meticulous moms

#5

From Hans Pumpkin, a limited-edition maker
"Baby & Kids Funding Campaign a Success"

Maker 'Hans Pumpkin' Profile

3-Line Summary

• Hans Pumpkin, a 17-year-old baby product brand, chose wadiz as the platform to launch its “breathable baby carrier guard”—a product unlike anything else on the market.
• They meticulously crafted a Story highlighting that this product is designed for babies who find it difficult to go outside due to social issues like COVID-19 and fine dust. 
• This resonated with parents who care deeply about their babies, resulting in cumulative funding of over 600 million won and a satisfaction rating of 4.8. This success also paved the way for the brand to expand into overseas markets.
  
  

Hans Pumpkin: A brand created by moms, for moms

Han Jeong-hwa, CEO of Hans Pumpkin

Q. Hello. Could you please introduce Hans Pumpkin? 

Hello. We are Hans Pumpkin, a 17-year-old baby products brand that creates items for both children and mothers. Starting with fabric products, we’ve introduced innovative parenting items that didn’t exist before, such as breathable baby carrier guards and breathable stroller guards.

Hans Pumpkin is a brand that began with the frustrations I faced as a mother of twins and a maker. While raising my children, I tried various products both domestically and internationally, but I always found something lacking. I’d think, “If only they added a single button or an extra strap, this product would be so much more convenient,” so I’d modify them myself, test them out, and even give them as gifts to friends and family. The positive reactions from those around me led me to turn this into a business. Since it began out of necessity, we strive to prioritize practicality over chasing fads or trends. 

Q. The message, “I hope you enjoy your days as a mom,” really sticks with me. What kind of moments does Hans Pumpkin envision when it comes to a mom’s daily life?

They are moments when a mother can live as her own person, rather than just as someone’s mother. 

There are many women who, despite having a wide range of talents, forget about them while raising their children. There are moments when sacrifice is taken for granted, and there’s a societal atmosphere that portrays a mother who sacrifices herself as a “good mother” or an “excellent mother.” As a result, she may feel that she has lost herself at some point, and I believe this is unhealthy.

I believe that to raise children in a healthy way, a mother must first be healthy herself. That’s whyI wanted to help make parenting easier and more comfortable, so that mothers can create the space to live as their true selves. This is why, when we develop our products, we consider not only the children’s needs but also the mothers’ convenience.

The concerns of mothers—understandable only through personal experience—
and products that embody these insights

Hans Pumpkin’s Flagship Product Lineup

Q. I heard that one out of every five babies born last year received a Hans Pumpkin product as a gift. What’s the secret to your popularity?

I thinkit’s because we’ve addressed the exact needs of moms.

Most of the Hans Pumpkin team members have personal experience raising children. Since we’re moms ourselves before we’re businesspeople, we know exactly what’s needed when raising a child. By incorporating this insight right from the product planning stage, we’re able to meet moms’ needs. We also pay close attention to product quality to ensure a satisfying user experience.

When creating fabric products, we use fabrics that have already been proven to be popular with customers through existing products, rather than new ones. Production is handled by a partner company we’ve worked with for 17 years. Since we’ve collaborated for so long, we understand each other’s styles well, which helps us avoid major trial-and-error. The production is fast and the results are excellent, so I think meticulous consumers appreciate us even more.

Q. Your social media engagement is incredibly active. It feels like a Community where members see each other as fellow parents—what drives this sense of connection?

I believe the reason our Hans Pumpkin customers have developed such a close relationship with us—to the point where they refer to themselves as “zucchini”—is because we approach them as individuals, not just as a brand. 

When I looked at other brands’ social media, it was often unclear whether I was interacting with the brand itself or with the person managing the account. Even if I liked the brand, it was hard to feel a personal connection. That’s why on Hans Pumpkin’s social media, I tried to share the emotions and thoughts I experience as a mom, and it seems many people could relate to that. 

Not only that, but consumers seem to place great importance on seeing their comments reflected in the products. So, when preparing new products, we openly discuss everything from the initial concept to the product’s pros and cons, seek input on even the smallest details, and exchange honest feedback. We prioritize finding common ground where they feel comfortable talking to us and communicating in the language of moms—as if we were a fellow parent or a peer in the parenting journey.

Q. It was great to see you sharing more than just product sales—such as parenting tips and hospital sponsorships—with your customers.
What’s your mindset behind these efforts? 

We’ve long said, “It’s not just because we do a good job—Hans Pumpkin exists because of our customers.”After all, even the best products are useless if no one discovers them. That’s why we’re always grateful to our customers and strive to give back as much as we can. The fundamental way we do this is by offering great products, and we also pay close attention to gifts—so much so that we haven’t gone a single year without giving away freebies in the past 17 years.

Donating our products to hospitals is our way of spreading the love we’ve received to a wider audience. While developing the “Breathing Guard” series, we became acutely aware of the seriousness of the situation facing sick children. Mothers reached out to us because their children had difficulty wearing masks while visiting the hospital or during their hospital stays. As we responded to their inquiries one by one, we realized there were far more sick children than we had imagined, and we felt that these children, more than anyone, truly needed our help—so we entered into a partnership with hospitals. As long as we’re not operating at a loss, we believe it’s only natural to help children in need, which is why we continue our sponsorship efforts.

To introduce a product unlike any other in the world,
wadiz: The ultimate testing ground

Preparations for the launch of the baby carrier guard, which served as the starting point for the stroller guard

Q. You used to mainly offer fabric products, so I’m curious about the process that led you to create the filter-equipped baby carrier guards and stroller guards.

It came about as a result of requests from moms combined with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whenever I go out, I always notice the children. My eyes are drawn to babies in strollers, the bags moms are carrying, and their supplies, and I find myself thinking about how to make better products. Then, when mask-wearing became mandatory due to COVID-19, I learned that children under 24 months old shouldn’t wear masks because of the risk of suffocation. 

Even when we minimized going out, there were still situations where we had to go out, like for vaccinations, and being outside was just too dangerous. Seeing that, I kept wondering, “What should I do?” and “What can I do?” until I discovered microfilters. I developed the idea of creating a filter with barrier protection—similar to a mask—that a child could wear, and that’s how the Baby Carrier Guard was born. I hadn’t initially thought of a stroller guard, but after receiving requests from moms via social media comments and messages, I decided to develop that as well.

Q. So, what prompted you to launch this on wadiz?

It all started with a suggestion from the planner who’s been running the business with me for a long time. After participating in several funding campaigns and experiencing wadiz firsthand, they told me there are many products that start with completely new ideas, and that it seems like a channel where you can achieve success based on product quality alone, regardless of brand power. They also mentioned that the supporters’ willingness to embrace new brands and products, along with their spirit of adventure, was very appealing.

To be honest, since there were no similar products on the market for the Baby Carrier Guard, I was worried that launching it through traditional channels would elicit a cold reaction—questions like, “What is that?” or “How can we verify its performance?” But I felt that by leveraging wadiz’s unique characteristics, we could overcome these challenges head-on. After running the funding campaign myself, I found it to be just as product-oriented as I’d heard, andI believe it’s the ideal platform for launching items that have never existed before.

Opportunities and changes that followed the funding campaign

Q. Did the characteristics of wadiz and its supporters that you mentioned help promote the product?

Yes, they definitely did. After the wadiz funding project ended, we analyzed the results and found that the gender breakdown of project participants was fairly even. Considering that Hans Pumpkin’s main customer base had traditionally been women, this meant that dads raising children haddiscovered the product and participated in the funding project. The first achievement was attracting new users, and another was that the wadiz funding project allowed us to expand into overseas marketssuch as Japan, Taiwan, and the U.S.

After our first funding campaign, we received many inquiries from agencies that had been keeping an eye on wadiz. We got various proposals, such as direct sales and overseas funding campaigns. If we had only launched the product on our own online store, we wouldn’t have been exposed to such a diverse audience. I believe wadiz serves as an excellent intermediary for expanding our brand and product reach.

Q. Since baby products are directly linked to children’s safety, it seems you have to be cautious about how you highlight your selling points.
How did Hans Pumpkin address these concerns?

Baby products are more demanding than general merchandise. In particular, funding required certifications not needed for other products, and there were even restrictions on certain phrases we couldn’t use, so creating content wasn’t easy. We agonized over how to convey the appeal of our Rewards without using key terms like “fine dust” or “COVID-19.”

"Will the filter really block it effectively?" A Story crafted from a mother’s perspective 
We compared the “Breathing Guard” series filter (left) with a competitor’s mosquito net cover (right) and proved its performance through experiments

The solution we found was to identify questions about the product from the perspective of a mom who’s raised children, experience the child’s viewpoint firsthand, and prepare answers to those questions. That’s why, while writing the Story, I even hopped into a stroller myself. I felt that I could only explain the product with confidence after personally experiencing the concerns moms have—such as whether it’s comfortable to breathe in and if the view is clear. Then, we described the situations in great detail so that readers could visualize the product’s benefits and how it’s usedso readers could visualize the product’s benefits and how it’s used.

Ever since receiving positive feedback from our supporters, we’ve been actively incorporating GIFs and detailed descriptions into the product pages on our own online store as well. It was a challenging process, but I think it was a valuable experience because we were able to validate our concept through wadiz and establish a clear direction for our content.

If you focus on your supporters (customers),
you’ll be able to find opportunities even in the midst of a crisis.

Q. I’m curious about your perspective as a maker who has been in the baby products market for 17 years. What are you currently focusing on?

With declining birth rates becoming a global issue, the two keywords we’re focusing on are“environment” and “mothers.” I think the era when people believed that as long as a child was well-fed and well-rested, they would grow up just fine is over. No one can escape environmental issues, and concern for“child safety”is on the rise. That’s why I consider our move away from fabric-based products to launch functional items a fairly successful endeavor. Unlike in the past, when people associated Hans Pumpkin with baby gift sets, they now think first of our breathable baby carrier guards and stroller guards. To expand our lineup of related products, we’ve recently been focusing on analyzing overseas markets and trends.

As I mentioned earlier, we also place great importance on creating products that help strike a balance between parenting and a mother’s personal life. Just as people are concerned about work-life balance, I believe there will be more and more mothers in the future who want to grow personally while raising their children. 

Of course, it won’t be easy since we can’t predict changes in the external environment, but I believe that if we prioritize consumers and consider their needs in any situation, we’ll be able to discover great opportunities.Since a company that focuses on its customerswill be loved for a long time, I always strive to stay true to our core values.

Q. Finally, please share a few words for aspiring makers looking to launch baby and kids’ funding campaigns on wadiz.

I encourage you to actively utilize the services available on wadiz. Wadizsupporters are distinctly different from general customers, so it will be very helpful to work with experts to identify what resonates with them. Also, be sure to carefully review the special campaigns. Depending on how you structure even a single Reward, you can tap into a variety of categories—such as women’s products or environmental initiatives—so I recommend actively leveraging these to grow the scale of your funding.

Finally, I recommend consistently informing your supporters about benefits, such as coupons. Even a small perk makes it easier for them to take action. I encourage you to explore every corner of the wadiz website to discover hidden benefits for both your brand and your supporters.

Interviewee CEO Han Jeong-hwa, Director Yoon Ye-rim
Written by Jeong Da-hye, Edited by Han Ji-hye