[E-Daily Reporter SHIN MIN JOON ] “We tried to honestly capture the story behind Captain Q in the video. While older brands tend to focus on creating new narratives, I think our decision to present it as simply and straightforwardly as possible is what garnered a positive response.”

In a recent interview with E-Daily, Hwang Soon-ho, Team Leader of Strategy Team 8 at Daehong Planning, and Song In-seop, Creative Director (CD) of Content Team 4, revealed the secret to the success of the Captin Q relaunch ad campaign. Team Leader Hwang and CD Song were responsible for the ad’s planning and production, respectively.

The Captain Q relaunch ad campaign, in which Team Leader Hwang and CD Song participated, garnered significant attention, surpassing 14 million cumulative YouTube views (combined total of the teaser, pre-launch, and launch videos) within about three weeks of its release. Team Leader Hwang explained the creative intent, saying, “We wanted to offer middle-aged and older consumers who remember Captain Q from the past a reunion with their memories, while sparking curiosity in the younger generation to discover a drink they’d only heard of as a legend.”

LotteChilsungBeverage relaunched “Captain Q” on the 14th of last month, a product it had discontinued in 2015. This marks the first relaunch in 11 years since it was first introduced in 1980 and subsequently discontinued after being stigmatized as a symbol of binge drinking. Captain Q was credited with popularizing domestic liquor at the time, thanks to its affordable price of around 3,000 won per 700-milliliter bottle. It was a frequent presence at college students’ team-building retreats (MTs) and outdoor events. It left such a strong impression that it even inspired the joke: “If you drink it and go to sleep, you’ll wake up two days later with no hangover.”

While past versions were said to have merely mixed rum flavoring with alcohol to mimic the taste of whiskey, the new product uses 99% pure Caribbean rum. It is characterized by primary aging in bourbon casks followed by secondary aging in Pedro Ximénez (PX) sherry casks.

According to the two, the starting point for the ad campaign was the different memories people of each generation had of Captain Q. The concept was to revive the scenes and music from the 1980s commercials to evoke a sense of familiarity for middle-aged and older viewers, while sparking laughter and curiosity among the younger generation. The tagline running throughout the ad is “LEGENDS NEVER DIE.” This phrase conveys the idea that even after Captain Q was discontinued, it remained alive in Saramin’s memories and stories.

Team Leader Hwang said, “At first, we settled on the direction of ‘The Legend Is Back,’ but considering that it continued to be talked about in celebrities’ YouTube content and among consumers even after it was discontinued, we decided that the expression ‘Legends Never Die’ would be more fitting.”

The biggest challenge was how to handle the image that Captain Q had built up over many years. While the brand enjoyed high name recognition and evoked fond memories, it was also burdened by negative perceptions and had become a target of ridicule online.

The production team focused on capitalizing on Captain Q’s buzz while promoting the revamped product. To achieve this, they drew inspiration from the client’s ideas to pay homage to scenes and music from old commercials, even recreating the distinctive sound effects characteristic of vintage footage. They also released teasers and preview videos ahead of the main spot to spark anticipation and curiosity among younger generations unfamiliar with Captain Q.

Song CD said, “From a creative perspective, Captain Q’s brand assets were incredibly appealing,” adding, “Whether good or bad, it remains in people’s memories, and there were many stories each person could recall.” He continued, “I thought it was important to preserve even the original’s clumsiness as much as possible,” explaining, “From the signature sound of shouting ‘Rum!’ to the scene where the eye patch flies off, and from the actors’ movements and gazes to the framing and tempo—I tried to maintain the original’s feel as much as possible.”

Comedian Lee Seon-min was chosen as the model to bridge the past and the present. The team focused on the fact that Lee could capture the atmosphere of the 1980s while remaining familiar to the younger generation. Leveraging his strength in portraying diverse characters, Lee played three roles in the commercial. CD Song said, “We were concerned about whether we could capture the interest of the younger generation, even if we could reach the generation that remembers the past,” adding, “We determined that Lee Seon-min could bridge the gap between the original Captain Q and the current generation.”

They also paid close attention to consumer reactions following the ad’s release. The video drew a variety of comments, ranging from praise that “the ad is fun” to memories of “drinking Captain Q in the past” and consumers saying they “will look for the product again.” The three videos collectively received over 5,000 comments.

Interest in the ad translated into product sales. The 12,000 sets of the limited-edition “Captain Q Treasure Box,” released on the 14th of last month, quickly sold out, prompting the company to begin additional production. Team Leader Hwang and Creative Director Song expressed their hope that, if the opportunity arises, they would like to revisit and pay homage to past advertising scenes that they haven’t yet featured.

Team Leader Hwang said, “If Captain Q was a cherished memory for the older generation, I hope the revamped Captain Q will help today’s consumers build new memories,” adding, “I hope this serves as a catalyst for transforming it from a drink that exists only in people’s memories into one they actually want to drink today.”