I’m a person who enjoys listening to variety of music, and lately, I have been particularly fond with Korean pop (KPOP) music. Named the “Hallyu Wave” KPOP is becoming increasingly popular around the world despite it being in another language other than English (universal language). I came across this video(starting at 10:54) covered by Monocle on Bloomberg. This video explores KPOP’s global expansion through the help of social networking.
The video mentions how with internet and social networking, there are no boundaries. Hence, there is only one music market, which is the global market. A particular point that really stood out to me is how Koreans are very successful in BRANDING their artists. When they mentioned this point, I realized that PEOPLE get BRANDED as well. They discuss how the artists in the industry are their own brand, and they are competing with other artists of their own brand. They are styled to be visually appealing to entertain the public. The public is not only seeking for good quality in the music, but for the sentiment through visual appeal.
This picture is one of Korea’s hottest nine member girl group called Girls Generation, that the video referred to. I can understand why males would like to watch them dancing in short shorts.
In COM 296 lecture today, Tamar introduced to us the importance of branding in marketing. When people think about marketing, they tend to link it to a product or service. However, I find it interesting on how marketing can be done on people as well. When the general public see a celebrity, they tend to look at what they may be wearing or using. We automatically think, “Oh is she endorsing this? Is it a new trend?” However, I think most people don’t see it from the different perspective that celebrities are actually trying to brand THEMSELVES and appeal to the public eye.
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