• Journal of the Economic Geographical Society of Korea
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.87-107
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• 2022

This study aims to understand the possibility of small city marketing strategies using B-grade cultural contents. This research focused on the case of Chungju City which applied B-grade cultural contents to city marketing. The process using B-grade cultural contents to small city marketing was investigated and hash-tags and comments on social media were coded and analyzed based on grounded theory. Also, the details were examined through in-depth interviews with the local government official in charge. The result has shown the characteristics of B-grade cultural contents describing the differences from the original B-grade culture as subcuture. First, publicity materials showed the characteristics of general B-grade culture such as retro, puns, and escape, showing the process of communication/participation/empathy. Second, improbability, intertextuality, extensibility, subversiveness, and authenticity were the five main factors for responses and empathy from the audience. Third, the ripple effect was formed through the simple narrative structure of 'intro-conclusion'. Finally B-grade cultural contents of Chungju showed new possibilities for sustainable small city marketing through the formation of new cultural assets.