Amore Pacific's Estra Wins 2026 Brand of the Year — Here's Why It Keeps Selling Out

The Atobarrier365 Cream has been the cream-section winner at the Olive Young Awards two years running — 2024 and 2025 — and as of January this year it crossed 10 million units sold. That is not a soft number. For a single SKU in a category this crowded, it is the kind of stat that makes you stop scrolling and actually look up what the formula is doing.

The brand behind it is Estra, Amore Pacific's derma line, which traces its research roots back to 1982 when it operated under the name Taepyeong Pharmaceutical. The focus has always been skin-barrier science — not a trend pivot, just a long-running research direction that happened to land exactly where the skincare conversation is right now. This year the brand ran a TV campaign under the line "sincerity is felt through skin," leaning into that research history rather than chasing a celebrity moment.

On October 30, the Korean Academy of Advertising named Estra one of six brands to receive its 2026 Brand of the Year award — a recognition the academy has given annually since 2006, specifically for brands that have built measurable brand equity through marketing communication. The citation for Estra noted changed consumer perception and differentiated communication as the deciding factors.

What makes this relevant beyond a press release: Estra is actively expanding into the US and European markets, building on its domestic track record. If you have been sleeping on this one because it reads as a "local pharmacy brand," the Olive Young Awards data and the 10-million-unit milestone suggest the formula has already been stress-tested at scale.

The Atobarrier365 Cream is the product to know — two consecutive Olive Young Awards wins in the cream category is the kind of repeat performance that usually means the formula holds up across skin types and seasons, not just in one viral moment. Worth adding to your next Olive Young haul list, especially if barrier repair is anywhere on your current skin agenda.