Pinkfong (

Hangul The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, . Hangul may also be written as following South Korea's standard Romanization. ( ) in South Korea and Chosŏn'gŭl in North Korea, is the modern official writing system for the Korean language. The ...

: 핑크퐁) is a South Korean children's educational brand of The Pinkfong Company (formerly SmartStudy), a South Korean

educational entertainment Educational entertainment (also referred to as edutainment) is media designed to educate through entertainment. The term was used as early as 1954 by Walt Disney. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has incidental entertainmen ...

company. Pinkfong consists of mainly children's songs, of which the most famous is "

Baby Shark "Baby Shark" is a children's song associated to a dance involving hand movements that originated as a campfire song dating back to at least the 20th century. In 2016, "Baby Shark" became very popular when Pinkfong, a South Korean entertainme ...

"; and its dance video eventually became the most-viewed YouTube video. As of July 2022, Pinkfong owns the most successful YouTube video of all time, "Baby Shark", with almost 12 billion views (11.8B). Their educational channel has a brightly colored programming of stories,

sing-along Sing-along, also called community singing or group singing, is an event of singing together at gatherings or parties, less formally than choir singing. One can use a songbook. Common genres are folk songs, patriotic songs, kids' songs, spiritual ...

songs and dances represented by a pink fox named "Pinkfong". The global product development company has more than 4,000 children's videos, songs, games and apps.

History

Formation

Pinkfong was formed with the inception of SmartStudy at their

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

headquarters, in June 2010. There are also supplementary headquarters in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

, U.S. and

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

, China. The U.S. branch's CEO Bin Jeong said the name was created from the pink fox character, and the fun sound of "fong" that sounded similar to "phone". The focus is children ages one to five years old. By 2015, the company had released 520

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on ...

s with central base apps like "Pinkfong Nursery Rhymes". SmartStudy's CFO and co-founder Lee Ryan Seung-kyu said typical nursery rhymes were usually "slow and calm" so they began with a small project, searching for a more upbeat song "for the new generation" that would appeal globally. The "Pinkfong! Kids' Songs & Stories" YouTube channel was launched on December 13, 2011, with the brand character, a pink or

magenta Magenta () is a color that is variously defined as pinkish- purplish- red, reddish-purplish-pink or mauvish- crimson. On color wheels of the RGB (additive) and CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located exactly midway between red and bl ...

-colored animated cartoon fox, a Prince from the planet Staria, that was inspired by the fox in the classic French book ''

The Little Prince ''The Little Prince'' (french: Le Petit Prince, ) is a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and military pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 a ...

'' by

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, comte de Saint-Exupéry, simply known as Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (, , ; 29 June 1900 – 31 July 1944), was a French writer, poet, aristocrat, journalist and pioneering aviator. He became a laureate of s ...

.
In late 2017, Hogi the green-colored hedgehog was introduced. In 2021, Ninimo the yellow-colored cat with a Disney Tsum Tsum-like toy was introduced. In mid 2022, Bebefinn the baby boy human was introduced.

YouTube channel

The YouTube channel videos include preschool songs that have learning value, rhymes and stories that incorporate the use of colors, numbers and letters. Song lyrics are repetitive, animation is bright and bold, and they run about one to two minutes in length. Some are grouped in video compilations, like "Planet Songs" and "Christmas Carols", and in addition to animation, some include

claymation Clay animation or claymation, sometimes plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine clay. Tr ...

and child actors. The short length was made to accommodate cell phone views on both YouTube and SmartStudy's education mobile apps. Three of their most popular videos are "Baby Shark", "Police Car" and "The Lion." The receptiveness of children watching "Baby Shark" was shown in a YouTube video of an elementary school class of 55 students in

Xi'an Xi'an ( , ; ; Chinese: ), frequently spelled as Xian and also known by #Name, other names, is the list of capitals in China, capital of Shaanxi, Shaanxi Province. A Sub-provincial division#Sub-provincial municipalities, sub-provincial city o ...

, China, posted by their English teacher, Frenchman Florian Marquette, in late 2015. He said the first time they saw it they responded with surprised expressions, then immediately started singing.

Pinkfong Wonderstar

'' Pinkfong Wonderstar'' is a YouTube Originals video series with two main characters: Pinkfong and Hogi. The two are magical friends that live in Wonderville. The two help Wonderville villagers that are in need of help. Key locations in the village are: Hogi's House, their Wonderstar tree shack, and Myan's House. The first episode was aired on June 27, 2019, on the

KBS2 The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) () is the national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in February 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters. KBS operates seven radio networks, ten television channels, ...

Korean Broadcasting System.

References

External links

* * {{Authority control South Korean brands Children's mass media YouTube channels launched in 2010 Education-related YouTube channels Fictional foxes Fictional extraterrestrial characters Mass media companies established in 2010