South Korea's Gmarket wins bronze at Spike Asia 2026 for G-Lakpe campaign

Gmarket’s G락페 (G-Lakpe) festival campaign has won bronze in the music category at Spike Asia 2026, the Asia-Pacific region’s premier advertising festival. The award was announced on March 13, following the ceremony in Singapore the previous day.

The campaign ran from September last year for five months, aiming to promote major promotions by presenting shopping as a festival. Central to the effort were monthly G락페 events held on days 1 through 3, alongside major promotions such as Big Smile Day and the Seollal Big Sale.

Creatively, the campaign employed 10 acts across genres, weaving shopping categories into song lyrics as wordplay. Participants included Kim Kyung-ho, Park Wan-kyu, Cherry Filter, Seol Un-do, Kim Jong-seo, Hwanhee, Min Kyung-hoon, Ailee, Jaurim, and H.O.T.

Over the five-month period, the campaign produced 36 ad spots, and the YouTube channel amassed about 210 million views. Gmarket describes the award as meaningful recognition both domestically and internationally.

In addition to the Spike Asia recognition, Gmarket is slated to win the Grand Prize in Integrated Media Campaign and the Best TV Ad at the 33rd Ad of the Year awards, with results to be announced that afternoon.

For U.S. readers, the milestone underscores how South Korea’s e-commerce firms are leveraging content-driven marketing to reach broad audiences. Spike Asia is a key barometer of regional advertising trends, and the campaign’s cross-genre music approach illustrates how brands integrate entertainment with shopping to drive engagement, a model increasingly watched by American marketers.

The company’s spokesperson said the campaign successfully fused content and commerce, noting the momentum from the award and its potential to strengthen Gmarket’s brand competitiveness through content-led marketing. Gmarket also plans a follow-up brand campaign in the first half of this year.