It is not too much to say that the 21th century is the decade of the Korean Wave. Korean Wave refers to the “phenomenon of Korean entertainment and popular culture rolling over the world with pop music, TV dramas, and movies”(Korea.Net). Psy’s Gangnam Style is a perfect example of Korean Wave sweeping over the world, which brought together millions of people with a song that is not even understandable by most of the audience.

The majority of Asia is now dominated by the craze of K-pop Idols, who are young, attractive singers from South Korea. From Korean dramas to Korean cosmetics, anything that is ‘made in Korea’ is the thing in Asia. With the number consumers from Europe rapidly increasing, Korean culture is gaining its power in world market. See Korean Wave in Paris, France.

It seems that the consumers of Korean product, culture, and media are considering Korean celebrities as aspirational reference group, the social reference group in which consumers want to belong and relate to. Also, the low level of loyalty of Southeast Asian consumers make them vulnerable to new trends and ideas, which increases the attractiveness of Korean product.

This is an amazing opportunity for Korean companies to ride the Korean Wave and expand into the international market to gain their brand value and penetrate the fortress of North American brands that have been dominating for decades in the world market. Today, Samsung is releasing its revolutionary smartphone, Galaxy S4, an upgraded version of last year’s Galaxy S3 that competed furiously with Apple’s Iphone 5. As one of the components of their STP strategy, Samsung can definitely target towards the consumer segments in Asia and Europe, who have been exposed to and are interested in Korean culture. Using famous K-pop celebrities as their models to market and promote the new Galaxy S4, they may be able to overcome Apple’s dominance in smartphone industry.

Citation:

Korea.net. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.korea.net/Government/Current-Affairs/Korean-Wave.