Kakao

Ryan is the brainchild of Kakao. In recent years, the parent company of Kakao Friends, Kakao Corp, has grown into a true empire in South Korea. Kakao Corp is best known for their messenger app KakaoTalk, where Ryan was first seen as a means of communication: a virtual sticker to send to someone. You can compare it to an emoji: Ryan is animated to express an emotion. He can give you a thumbs up, run around panicking, or cheer you on with pompoms and a horn, and lots of other things.

Besides that, Ryan is used as promotional material for Kakao T, the taxi company by Kakao. In South Korea, the Kakao T taxis can be recognized by their white yellowish color and a picture of a waving Ryan on their side. If you were to join Kakao Bank, you would even get the option of receiving a credit card with a picture of Ryan on it. In South Korea you encounter Ryan everywhere and anywhere.

We can all make a simple connection between Ryan, Kakao and K-pop, as they all originate from South Korea. But if you get some fans of these three involved, things might get a little more complicated. K-pop, K-drama, K-beauty, everything preceded by a K is connected to each other. As a K-pop fan, it is only a matter of time before you become acquainted with all these Korean cultural magnets. When I was still a young K-pop fan and came into contact with Ryan for the first time, it was because I wanted to feel more connected to Korean culture. As previously mentioned, Ryan is the mascot and most popular sticker of the big platform KakaoTalk, and when you find out that your favorite K-pop idol uses KakaoTalk as well, you - as a young fan - of course want to use it too. That way you can feel just a little closer to your favorite idol. That’s when the ball starts rolling. You download KakaoTalk, because “Look! I use KakaoTalk too! Just like my K-pop idol!” Then you encounter Ryan and you start using Ryan stickers exclusively. Before you know it, 12 years later your entire room is full of stuffed dolls of this expressionless but overly adorable bear; uh lion.

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