FSN Subsidiary Adqua Wins Bronze at 2026 Busan International Advertising Festival

A campaign that paid for time off for South Korean small-business owners has won a Bronze award at the 2026 Busan International Marketing Advertising Festival.

Adqua Interactive, a subsidiary of KOSDAQ-listed FSN, created the “Can’t Afford to Pause” project with K-Bank. The campaign focused on self-employed people who could not take vacations because they feared losing sales.

Rather than promote a financial product alone, the project offered selected applicants financial support for vacation costs and lost income. Organizers received 5,788 stories through an open application process. During each participating business’s closure, a notice explaining the owner’s story and message was displayed at the shop, creating a point of communication both online and offline.

“

It is meaningful that we provided self-employed people with practical rest and formed a sense of social empathy.

Campaign content accumulated more than 18 million views, while related media coverage reached about 150 reports. Adqua chief executive Jung Kun-young said the project was meaningful because it gave self-employed people practical rest and built public empathy.

The award came in the PR STARS category at MAD STARS 2026, formerly presented here as the Busan International Advertising Festival.

“

We will continue presenting creative work that pursues social value and client growth at the same time.