Today, countries all over the world are facing fierce competition to have elements of their cultural heritage inscribed as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Therefore, we need to intensify efforts to map out a strategy to succeed in this endeavour. This paper thus presents a promotional strategy to inscribe the typical Korean tradition of the Head Family (Jongga) on the list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.First of all, this paper assesses whether the tradition of Jongga meets the criteria for being considered as intangible cultural heritage. This ‘Korean Tradition of the Head Family’ has been kept alive thanks to a social stratum that has preserved the customs of the Jongga community. In that sense, ‘Jongga, the Korean Tradition of the Head Family’ does fit the definition of intangible cultural heritage given by UNESCO. Moreover, the essence of intangible cultural heritage, which consists in handing down customs from generation to generation, forging the identity of the particular community, appreciating cultural diversity, and raising a sense of respect between communities, also closely coincides with the very nature of the Jongga Tradition. As UNESCO provides two types of intangible cultural heritage lists, the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding and the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, we need to establish which list the Jongga tradition is most suitable to be inscribed on. It appears that ‘Jongga, the Korean Tradition of the Head Family’ fulfils the criteria of the latter list.Secondly, this paper verifies the probabilities for the inscription of ‘Jongga, the Korean Tradition of the Head Family’ as intangible cultural heritage. For this purpose, we have examined the cases of the ‘Royal ancestral ritual in the Jongmyo shrine and its music’ and ‘Kimjang, making and sharing kimchi in the Republic of Korea’ and found out the importance of the promotional stage to the inscription on the Intangible Cultural Heritage list, especially in the latter case. If the same applies to our own case, it will entail gathering the competence of various groups to form a ‘Preservation Society of Jongga, the Korean Tradition of the Head Family’ (provisional name), from local governments, universities, research centres to the clans concerned and their eldest grandsons.In addition to this, we examine in details the procedure of inscription as intangible cultural heritage. This procedure consists of three steps. First, ‘Jongga, the Korean Tradition of the Head Family’ must be designated either as an Important Intangible Cultural Property of Korea or as a Local Intangible Cultural Property. Second, ‘Jongga, the Korean Tradition of the Head Family’ must be inscribed on the Intangible Cultural Heritage Preliminary List managed by the Cultural Heritage Administration. Third, a nomination file is submitted to the UNESCO Representative list. More specifically, this step entails, inter alia, enacting the related laws to preserve the Jongga tradition, inviting the related staff members from the Cultural Heritage Administration and UNESCO, fostering the collaboration between the central government and the related social groups, forming a team to draw up the nomination file.Finally, this paper presents practical strategies for a successful recognition of the Korean Jongga tradition as intangible cultural heritage of humanity. First of all, a collaboration scheme with the Jongga community and the social group related to them must be designed. Second, a survey of the Jongga members and related parties Head Family must be conducted. Third, promotional materials concerning the Jongga tradition must be produced and related events must be held. Fourth, an academic archive of the Jongga tradition must be built up. Fifth, national and international conferences must be held in order to publicize the value of the Korean Jongga tradition and develop theoretical frameworks for the study of the Jongga tradition. This paper argues that the steady and systematic application of the aforementioned methods will greatly help in the successful inscription of ‘Jongga, the Korean Tradition of the Head Family’ on the Representative list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.