#15

The "Wusu Korean History" maker's
stationery funding campaign was a success.

3-Line Summary

• Woosu Korean History raised approximately 100 million won in funding from about 2,000 supporters with its Korean history stationery set. (Go to the project)
• The Super Early Bird quantities sold out within three minutes of the project’s launch, and all prepared Rewards were fully funded within the campaign period.
• They cited “wadiz ads” as the key to their funding success. By finding ad creatives that aligned with their brand, they achieved highly efficient results.

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PART 1. The Beginnings of Usu Korean History

Helping you master the often-confusing subject of Korean history in one go

Q. Hello. Could you please introduce Woosu Korean History? 

Hello. We’re Wusu Korean History, a brand dedicated to making Korean history fun and accessible for everyone. We run social media channels on Instagram, our blog, and YouTube. Specifically on Instagram, to help you build your knowledge of Korean history step by step in an engaging way, every Tuesday and Thursday we host “Tuesday-Thursday Korean History Quiz” every Tuesday and Thursday to help you build your knowledge of Korean history step by step in an engaging way.

Drawing on our own experience preparing for Korean history exams, we communicate through various channels and develop products so that anyone can study the vast body of Korean history in an easy and fun way.

Q. I noticed you’ve developed products designed to help people naturally learn Korean history as part of their daily lives.
I’m curious about what inspired this idea.

Korean History Quiz Calendar and Genealogy Flashcards

I enjoy creating mind maps on my own.Whenmy thoughtssnowball, ingenious ideas often pop into my head. 

Onewas drawing a mind map while thinking about how to create study materials for Korean history when I happened to glance at the calendar on my desk. It suddenly hit me: “Ah, this is it!” I realized that if I placed my Korean history study materials somewhere in my daily life—like a calendar—where my eyes naturally linger, I’d be able to review them effortlessly. I immediately cut up the perfectly good calendar in front of me to make a sample (laughs). 

Once I’d decided on the product’s format, I pondered how to incorporate the Korean history content. I realized that a quiz format would be ideal for keeping learners consistently engaged and interested. 

After all, learning through natural repetition—by solving problems and getting the answers right—is more enjoyable and effective than forced memorization. I wanted to present the material I’d organized while preparing for my Korean history exam in a quiz format so that anyone could enjoy it. 

Q. So, the Korean history study materials you created while preparing for the exam were the beginning of Woosu Korean History.
What prompted you to commit to turning this into a business?

Study materials I created while studying Korean history myself (left) and my exam preparation process (right)

As my handwritten study materials—created with such care—piled up, I felt it was a shame to keep them to myself.Hoping they would help others, I started sharing them on my blog with a lighthearted attitude at first. (“Wusu Korean History: The Go-To Spot for Korean History” Naver Blog) 

More people than I expected visited the blog and left comments expressing their gratitude. That gave me the courage to launch “Wusu Korean History.” I’ve been creating these materials to properly introduce Korean history to my blog visitors. 

PART 2. The Journey to Becoming a Successful wadiz Maker

Wadiz pre-order,
Validating the brand’s market potential

Q. I noticed that U-Su Korean History has sold products on other platforms before. I’m curious what prompted you to try a pre-order campaign on wadiz.

I launched the pre-order to see how much attention “Wusu Korean History” could garner within the vast wadiz market, whichhas 5.6 million members. Wadiz was probably the biggest challenge I’ve faced while running Woosu Korean History (laughs). Fortunately, wadiz offered a “pre-order service” specifically for products distributed through their platform, which helped ease the burden.

Instead, we packaged the Korean history stationery sets we’d been selling into *gift boxes* and launched them exclusively on wadiz. Many customers used to buy them in bulk as gifts on other sites, but I felt it was a shame to just send them in a plain shipping box. I thought that if we presented them in a gift box that looked like a proper “gift,” both the giver and the recipient would feel happier. 

*To launch a project as a pre-order on wadiz, you must offer special benefits exclusively for wadiz supporters.
For more details, see User Guide > What Is a Pre-Order?.

Q. As you planned, many people participated in the funding campaign to buy the product as a gift, didn’t they?

That’s right. We had a lot of aunts, uncles, and parents of students preparing for exams come to us. In the past, it was usually students preparing for exams or civil service exams who sought out our products because they needed them. But it seems that wadiz supporters stumbled upon “Usu Korean History” while browsing various projects and decided to participate in the pre-order after thinking of their children and nieces and nephews who are studying. Thanks to that, we were able to reach a new target audience for our brand.

Q. The Super Early Bird stock sold out within three minutes of the project’s launch, and you raised over 100 million won. What do you think was the secret to this success?

To be honest, since there were several consecutive public holidays during the pre-order period, I was worried that interest in the project might wane. Contrary to my concerns, many people visited the page as soon as it went live, and I was truly delighted to achieve such an overwhelming and unexpected result. 

I believe we were able toachieve such great resultsthanks to wadiz’s Success Director (SD)* Kim Ji-young, who carefully reviewed and thought deeply about our project. Shehelped us move smoothly frompreparationtocompletion.She was truly reliable and an asset we’d love to have on our own team—I even thought she was one of our own employees (laughs). 

She really understood our brand’s strengths and even picked up on the details we’d put into the Rewards.Basedonthose insights,she thought through various advertising products and creative concepts from multiple angles. Sincewe’d never run ads on other platforms before, we didn’t really know where to start, but thanks to her, we were able to choose the “Display + Targeted Ads” packageon wadiz to effectively promote our project.

*wadiz SD (Success Director)
A funding consulting expert who helps aspiring makers succeed. They guide makers on everything from providing feedback on story drafts and executing ads within marketing budgets to communicating with supporters, designing events, and developing News strategies. If you choose the Expert plan, you can receive consulting from an SD. You can can be viewed in detail here.

Q. What was your goal in running a wadiz ad campaign?

We wanted people who need to study Korean history—such as students preparing for Korean history exams, civil service exam candidates, and parents homeschooling their children —to learn about our brand.

We also ran the ad campaign with the hope that people wouldn’t feel guilty about not knowing much about our country’s history, but rather think, “There’s a way to learn history that’s a little more fun! If I learn this way, I’ll be able to say I know a thing or two about history!”

Q. What insights did you gain from the ad campaign? 

We learned that advertising is definitely effective and that it can yield good results even in areas we hadn’t anticipated. .

We ran ads with various creatives, and thanks to machine learning, specific creatives were automatically displayed based on performance. Also, since we could see ad performance at a glance—such as which creative had the highest number of clicks and which ads our target audience preferred—it was very helpful in producing our next ads. As these insights accumulated, we were able to raise more funds than expected. 

wadiz supporters,
discovering the maker’s authenticity

Korean History Stationery Set Funding Story

Q. What are the unique advantages of wadiz compared to other platforms? 

“The ability to fully capture the maker’s Story.”is a major advantage. Like anyone else, I found it difficult at first to share my story. But as I started writing bit by bit, beginning with the parts that were easiest to answer, I actually found myself thinking, “Did I really have this much to say?” It brought back memories of the early days when I was preparing “Usu Korean History,” and I even found it fun. 

Since wadiz is a place where a maker’s story can be conveyed in its entirety, I put my heart into the production and naturally spent a lot of time on the story. I think the ability to share my story in this way is wadiz’s greatest advantage compared to other platforms.

Q. Other creators who’ve prepared funding campaigns have also talked a lot about “Story.”
Wadiz supporters, in particular, place a lot of importance on the “Story.”

That’s right. Usually, when people buy something, they don’t read the product details page very carefully, do they? But wadiz supporters read everything very carefully—even the maker’s introduction—despite the detailed pages being longer than on other platforms. 

Thanks to that, they come to trust the maker, and that trust motivates them to cheer for the project all the way through, I realized that they are people who truly appreciate the makers’ efforts and values.

PART 3. A Message for Aspiring Makers

Success as a wadiz maker isn’t the end—it’s just “another beginning”

Preparing for shipping after the campaign endedQ. Have there been any changes for the brand since the pre-order campaign ended?

After successfully completing the wadiz pre-order campaign, we started to be seen as a “successful” brand (laughs). Our followers and acquaintances sent us lots of congratulations after the pre-order ended, and many more people came to recognize our brand.Overall, I think our brand awareness has increased.

The word “success” itself might give the impression that “it’s over” since we’ve achieved our goal . But the success we achieved on wadiz isn’t the end—it’s just the beginning. Using this success as a stepping stone, we’re embarking on a “new beginning” with the hope that Usu Korean History’s materials will reach even more people. 

Q. I’m also curious about Uusu Korean History’s future plans.
What kind of stories do you want to share with the world through your Korean history study materials?

First, we want to continue consistently sharing our content by uploading weekly posts on Instagram, just as we do now. We do this in the hope that those studying Korean history will retain their knowledge for longer. I imagine the “Harmonious Korean History Quiz” series will continue as long as Uusu Korean History exists, right?

We’re constantly thinking about what kind of materials we can create to make studying easy and fun . We’ll keep creating content with the hope that it will be of even the slightest help to those who have a curiosity and love for history. Since our content is about our nation’s history , we plan to carry on the brand with patriotism and pride, so please continue to look forward to what we have in store. 

Q. This is our final question. 
If you could offer advice to aspiring makers, what would you say? 

If you’re like us and have a decent selection of rewards prepared, I’d definitely recommend using the “pre-order” service to give wadiz a try. In particular, if you’re confident in your rewards, I encourage you to prepare a variety of advertising materials and actively utilize wadiz’s advertising features. You’ll be able to showcase the rewards you’ve worked so hard to prepare to your heart’s content without any regrets, while also gaining exposure to a larger market and a wider audience. 

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Interviewee  Written by Woo Soo-yeon, Edited by Nam Hyun-sol and Han Ji-hye