The South Korean startup Lalatok, which is creating a sensation in the Vietnamese Generation Z social network market, announced that it is experiencing rapid growth centered around university areas in Hanoi.

Lalatok has entered the Top 20 in the social network category of the Vietnamese app store as word-of-mouth spreads voluntarily on local social media.

The unexpected 'analog strategy' is behind this growth. Lalatok CEO Kim Moon-seok collaborated simultaneously with over 60 Vietnamese TikTokers and personally flew to Hanoi to employ Vietnamese university students as short-term part-timers. They distributed business card-sized promotional materials on campuses using a 'traditional' method to target local students. He stated, “We decided that online promotion alone has its limits, so we chose to go out and make eye contact directly.”

This strategy proved surprisingly effective. Lalatok, centered around five university student ambassadors selected through Facebook, launched an immediate download and invitation program on campus. The incentive structure, which provides cash rewards for inviting friends, combined with the rapid information dissemination culture unique to Generation Z, spread virally across campuses in a short time.

As a result, the core target audience of Vietnamese Generation Z users for Lalatok surged, with some campuses even describing it as “the fastest-spreading map-based social app since Zenly.”

CEO Kim stated, “The Vietnamese market has a unique social network usage pattern among Generation Z, and the strongest network effect occurs when offline connections and online dissemination work together.” He added, “After establishing a solid Generation Z network in Vietnam, we plan to expand into the Thai and Indonesian markets.”

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