THE GLOBALIZATION OF K-POP
Situation: following the massive success of BTS, many K-pop brands and Korean music companies were looking to catch lightning in a bottle a second time. As an industry, the K-pop genre wanted to nourish and grow a global fanbase outside of Korea. I worked with many of these labels - both their home teams in Korea and market-specific counterparts abroad - as well as with Korean streaming platforms who wanted to grow their subscriber base with K-pop led marketing efforts.
Opportunity: the audience for K-pop looks different around the world - a K-pop fan in Brazil is not the same as a K-pop fan in Indonesia or India. If K-pop bands and Korean streaming platforms want to make it big outside their borders, they would need to understand the local fanbases they were hoping to grow.
Key Themes + Questions:
In Asia, was there already crossover appeal - for example, Japan has J-pop or Idol Music. To what extent were the audiences for that music already plugged into K-pop, and was that an audience ripe for development? Similarly, should K-pop bands seek out collaborations with local artists in countries like Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand? Would a campaign led with K-pop do well for Korean streaming services in those markets?
Video Gaming as a marketing tool - many video gamers around the world are introduced to Asian pop music through video game soundtracks. What role could gaming, esports, and online gaming communities play in promoting K-pop artists abroad?
How to go #1 in the US - the Billboard Charts are the top measure of success most K-pop bands, whose main goal was to take the #1 spot on the week their album was released. What audience should these bands target, were there consumer brand partnerships they could leverage, and what was the best way to activate an avid fanbase?
Outcomes:
K-Pop Label 1 - helped the Japanese marketing team develop a strategy to broaden the appeal and success of their K-pop bands in Japan and tap into the rich Idol Music landscape in the country
K-Pop Label 2 - by harnessing advanced analytic models, we identified the path a typical K-pop fan follows when learning about new bands (i.e. what was their first K-pop band they followed, then the second, and so on). This allowed the label to prioritize collaborations between their artists to build the fanbases of their bands in the U.S.
K-Pop Label 3 - delivered a complete profile of the K-pop fan in a range of markets (Brazil, Mexico, the U.S., the Philippines, and more) to build marketing strategies based on the nuances of the fanbase in each market.
Gaming in Music Report - the consistent interest in gaming as a marketing vehicle for music (and not just for K-pop) caused us to write our first thought leadership report on the power of combining both consumer passions.
Full report download here and excerpts below.
