Cooler Than A/C – The Bibim Noodle Takeover

During the sweltering Korean summer, a strange thing happened in an electronics store: customers looking for air conditioners ended up buying cold noodles.

Samyang Foods—best known globally for its viral Buldak (Hot Chicken Ramen)—launched a new bibim-myeon (spicy Korean cold noodle) called MepTaeng, featuring Cubeb pepper oil for an icy, tingling aftertaste.

To highlight just how “cool” these noodles felt, we treated them like actual air conditioners. We packed them in A/C-style boxes and installed them inside home appliance stores across the country.

The campaign quickly escalated: We partnered with WWF Korea to frame it as a climate awareness action. Then we took to the streets with “Fresh Mep Agents”—brand ambassadors who offered bibim noodles in ice cream cones, rewarded customers who agreed to turn off A/Cs in-store, and created pop-up parasols at crosswalks to cool pedestrians.

Branded content with science influencers tested MepTaeng’s chilling effect, while an AR-filter-driven “Frozen Face Challenge” let fans pretend to freeze from the spice.

In Korea, over 80% of bibim noodles are sold in summer. This campaign turned a seasonal product into a national conversation—and made Samyang not just the spiciest, but the coolest noodle brand of the season.