You call yourselves ‘Life Experience Producers’ that are building a ‘Living Cultural Platform’. Can you tell us a bit what that means exactly and how this translates into your integrated coliving model?

In the process of planning the first Episode, we wanted to provide a new living experience solution that could overcome the current challenges of urban living for individuals who are curious and sensitive to new changes.

The goal of this solution is to provide a better city life for those individuals, and to that end as a ‘Life Experience Producer’, we aim to improve a large part of life for people living in urban centres. We build a variety of experienceable spaces where individual values and tastes can grow beyond the basic needs for home, such as noise reduction, sanitation and security issues. We also foster a social community to help with personal growth as well as with building relationships between neighbours.

We think the ultimate value of coliving is ‘coexistence’ and ‘growth’. To reach that stage, we try to give our homes an intrinsic value, the feeling of being the safest and most comfortable communal homes to live in. Through diverse spaces (private and public) and services, we have created a unique atmosphere that only the residents of Episode can experience, and provided a variety of layouts to align with the diverse needs of our residents.

In all stages – before moving in, planning and design – we try to provide better experiences than the existing housing options in Korea and create a sense of solidarity among residents after the move-in phase. We create an environment where our residents can naturally familiarise and communicate with each other in the early stages of moving in. When hosting such events, we serve food and drinks from local cafes and restaurants near Episode. By doing so, the residents get an opportunity to get to know each other and ultimately create bonds with little to no help from us as an operator. As the ‘self-sustaining’ community becomes stronger, its benefits and exchanges then expand to the wider community that includes local businesses and stakeholders.

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What does fostering thriving communities mean for Episode? How are you building and fostering authentic communities within your coliving spaces for both residents and locals? What is your overall vision of community and what are some of the main challenges you have identified while building out your Episode ecosystems?

Community is the medium for conveying the brand values of Episode. It allows the residents to directly and indirectly experience the values that Episode embodies, such as sharing for better urban life, symbiosis, sustainability, expansion to locals and self- development.

Through this, we can achieve two things: one is to increase the satisfaction of the actual living experience for residents who choose to live in Episode, and the second is to provide our core values to potential customers who have not yet moved into Episode but can experience our brand via community programmes and promotional events.

The key to the Episode community programme is that it is not enforced. We think the essence of a community is to create communal areas that provide the space for authentic connection and engagement.

We hope that the relationships formed through the Episode community will provide an opportunity for our residents to experience and discover new things as they live together as members of the community, and to use the experience to further develop themselves. For example, when COVID-19 first started, there were naturally many concerns amongst the community. However, we found that the interest in health and meditation has significantly increased in the last year, so we began hosting remote programmes related to these areas of wellness.

We also changed our communication strategy to promote our content in different ways. With the concepts of ‘livelihood’ and ‘community’ in mind, we started to send the message that everyone is safe in our space. Our transition from holding in-person events to conducting remote events has shifted the perspectives – and concerns – around community events, and ultimately garnered a number of positive reviews amongst residents. To manage these responses more precisely and accurately, we created a measuring tool called the ‘Community Vitality Index’.

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Can you tell us more about your ‘Community Vitality Index’? From what we understand, this consists of 13 quantitative and qualitative performance indexes to manage operational excellence and quality within your communities. Can you tell us about how this index was created and how it is implemented within your coliving spaces?

We have established and used 13 detailed indexes under six different categories – Number of Units, Leasing, Financial, Facility & Community Management and ESG – to quantitatively evaluate our performance in regards to community and operations. Most of the indexes are benchmarked against the ones commonly used in the rental housing and hospitality industries. In addition to this, we believe that there is a need for quantitative measurement of our community, a key component of coliving. This is because we know community is the core element of coliving, and how well we manage it can give Episode a competitive edge within the coliving market. Therefore, we created a new measurement tool called the Community Vitality Index (CVI).

As you can see in the table below, we initially developed the index based on the data we had accumulated in the past. However, in the future, we believe that the ultimate goal of our CVI is to objectively evaluate the degree of community activity within our spaces and to continuously develop these activities. We plan to add more indexes which we consider to be important aspects in operating a thriving community such as program diversity, local expansion and sustainability.

In order to thrive as a coliving community and brand you need to measure what you treasure! How do you manage your community to improve the metrics that you measure in your CVI?

We develop our community by focusing on three aspects as follows:

1. Diversity of community programs

In addition to community events and programmes that our residents create, we plan and host a diversity of other activities. We collaborate with leading companies and influencers in various fields to provide diverse cultural experiences. For instance, we facilitated a range of community programmes such as fitness, meditation, cooking, music and book clubs last year. Furthermore, we planned the ‘Music Episode’ series, which was particularly popular among our residents, with a local service provider called ‘Salon de Musique’.

2. Voluntary participation of residents

We encourage voluntary participation and engagement amongst our residents. The community managers work very hard to create an ideal coliving atmosphere which is also pleasant and comfortable for the residents, but in the end, it is the residents who make up the community and our unique atmosphere. Thus, we aim to create an environment where residents create the brand by their active and voluntary participation into events and other aspects of communal life.

3. Expansion into the local community

Episode community has a community expansion plan that extends from mingling amongst residents in the building to local stakeholders, and even further to global communities. Currently, we invite local companies to community programmes to hold events and promote collaborations with local exhibitions and food markets. In the near future, we also plan to provide integrated membership and packaging products in partnership with other coliving brands in Asia.

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Part of any coliving ecosystem is about building out both a B2B and B2C community of stakeholders. Could you explain how you are fostering relationships with local and international coliving industry players and other stakeholders (e.g. academic institutions such as Seoul National University) to help optimise your product and model?

We have had sustained global PR efforts since Episode’s launch in 2019, and thanks to these continuous communications, we have been seeing positive results. For example, we have signed an MOU in 2020 with a Japan-based coliving brand called HafH to help promote one another and explore joint membership packages. In addition, we are planning to improve our membership package in collaboration with other international partners to launch enhanced products in the global market. With leading Korean and global organisations, we have been collaborating to do the following:‍

1. Exchange with the global coliving sector

In addition to our MOU with HafH, we are also exploring joint product development with other Asian coliving players. We are considering various options such as co-creating content and surveys, and developing membership products that would enable members to stay with different coliving brands for a discounted price. Stay tuned!

2. Research activities for products that reflect changes in how we live

In the mid- to long-term, we are envisioning products that reflect the residential behaviour of not only young single-person households, but also seniors. To start this initiative, we are planning a study on the living behaviours of single-person households with the Big Data Laboratory of a local university. The purpose of the study is to analyse how long residents use each space in their houses and what they use the spaces for according to gender, age and other profile features. This can then be reflected in the spatial design of new projects or utilised to figure out inconveniences people experience unconsciously, which can then help develop our new living services.

We are also enhancing the public exposure of the coliving industry by interacting with the global platforms mentioned above and conducting research and other activities to create smart products that reflect the lifestyle of several generations. We think it’s the essence of every business to match potential customers with relevant products, and this has been the core of our strategy since the start.

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Finally, a thriving coliving brand and community requires sustainability and wellbeing to be embedded into their model. What is Episode doing to create positive social, environmental and economic impact and how does this ultimately enhance the overall community and user experience?

We are implementing key sustainability initiatives in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), such as affordability, clean energy, responsible consumption and others. We expect these efforts will expand the inspiration for a better city living to non- residents by encouraging our sustainable lifestyles amongst our residents. Our sustainability efforts include the following:

1. Sustainable design and construction

When constructing new buildings, we use eco- friendly (and energy-efficient) materials to meet green building certification criteria. In fact, the latest Episode buildings have been acknowledged for their energy efficiency by related ministries in Korea. For example, our upcoming sites, Episode Seocho393 and Gangnam262, have received the highest certifications in terms of energy efficiency and other sustainability criteria.

2. Providing a living service that maximises shared resources

We actively utilise sharing economy and ESG principles from planning stage to in-house life. Two flagship services which are shared are transportation and furniture subscription services. Our residents can easily use electric vehicles and micro mobilities that are parked and available on- site. With complimentary electric battery chargers installed on-site, we encourage residents to use non-petrol transportation. Also, residents can style furniture according to their preferences at any time without unnecessary consumption and waste with our furniture subscription service. We currently provide more than 50 items including tables, chairs, closets, home appliances and so on, and from this summer onwards, 100 more items will be added to the list. With this furniture subscription service, even short- term residents can decorate their space with minimal furniture waste and cost.

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3. Community programmes for a healthier society

We actively link local stores to community programmes. We invite local restaurants and shops to host in-person events and introduce them to our residents through our social media channels. This contributes to the adaptation of our residents into the area and the economic development of small local business owners, resulting in high satisfaction for all. Starting in 2021, we have been organising a new plogging crew to encourage community service, and are planning on gradually diversifying the content of our activities to promote healthier and thriving lifestyles.

All in all, we believe that residents can increase their identity and pride in life by recognising and controlling the environmental impact caused by their activities as much as possible. They can enjoy the services they want at any time and become healthy citizens who are more aware of the impact they will have on society. We aim to perfect our ESG-based living operations and hope that these efforts can inspire residents and non-residents alike to experience better city life with Episode.

We are creating a new urban life where residents are in harmony with one another and the local community, enjoy convenient services and practice ethical values such as environmental protection and wellness.

We aim to create spaces of higher value through cooperation with various industry players and other stakeholders in Korea and abroad. We invite you to join!