SITUATION
Maxim is a coffee brand with a history spanning over 40 years that every Korean knows. For this reason, we needed to increase opportunities to connect with younger generations while also providing a chance for our loyal customers to rediscover the brand.
We incorporated Maxim’s core brand value into this campaign: the idea of enhancing the small yet meaningful joys of everyday life through a good cup of coffee. We hoped consumers would become more familiar with the Maxim brand by directly experiencing these positive and uplifting feelings.
While Maxim is well-known as a coffee mix brand centered around Mocha Gold, it actually encompasses a wide range of coffee categories, including not only coffee mixes but also soluble coffee, R&G (whole bean coffee), RTD (ready-to-drink coffee beverages), and even its flagship store, “Maxim Plant.”
This project was designed to facilitate direct communication with consumers and visitors and to highlight Maxim as a master brand that offers a diverse range of coffee experiences.
SOLUTION
In 2025, Maxim opened a thoughtfully designed brand experience space in a traditional Korean house in Gyeongju to share an abundance of joyful experiences. Maxim Gaok aimed to make every visitor feel like a special guest. With “Hwandae”—meaning “a heart that warmly welcomes everyone”—as its theme, the space was designed to evoke feelings of “happiness” and “hospitality” throughout.
The core of Maxim Gaok’s strategy was not merely to convey product messages, but to allow customers to embody the brand’s values firsthand. The entire 1,912 m² hanok, a traditional Korean house, was transformed into an experiential space. Starting at the entrance, visitors were invited to write their desired name or nickname on their cup, offering them a sense of being welcomed the moment they stepped inside.
During the design process, the visitor flow was planned to lead from the main gate through the house to the central courtyard, fostering a sense of leisure. In the center of the courtyard, a structure reinterpreting traditional knots was installed using 2,000 yards of rope. The knots swayed gently in the breeze, serving to physically embody the concept of leisure.
In the “Matitdang” (a portmanteau of “delicious” and “primary space”), visitors were greeted with a menu tailored to their individual tastes, featuring Maxim’s diverse selection of carefully brewed coffees. In the “Gabae-tteul (coffee courtyard)” space, we designed an environment where visitors could fully enjoy their coffee while immersed in the hanok atmosphere.
Furthermore, to ensure the spatial experience was not a one-time event, a retail area was designed to allow visitors to bring the value of leisure into their daily lives. Here, the ‘Gaok Package,’ which reinterprets the aesthetic of the hanok, and the ‘Bojagi Special Package,’ featuring traditional Korean wrapping cloth, were sold.
Through this, a complete journey connecting experience, consumption, and brand memory was established.
RESULTS
During its one-month run, Maxim Gaok welcomed approximately 69,000 visitors. (August 28–September 26, 2025)
Visitors spent an average of about two hours at Maxim Gaok. This is more than four times longer than the average duration for a typical pop-up event.
Related content was also produced by various media outlets. Including 606 press reports, approximately 16,000 user-generated posts were uploaded online. Viral videos of Maxim Gaok uploaded to YouTube and social media recorded 2.01 million views.
The “Maxim MyPoint” app, used for the experience at Maxim Gaok, gained approximately 25,000 new subscribers during the operation period.
