Sometimes you get marketing opportunities from something you never expected. Psy’s Gangnam Style phenomenon in 2012 is one of those opportunities. With Psy’s #2 Billboard song, I agree with So Yeon’s post that K-pop wave that was mostly limited to Asia found a way to expand to broader global markets to America and Europe.

Korean wave is already a phenomenon in parts of Asia. Korean celebrities become a reference group for consumers of Korean wave including music and drama in those regions. Consumers desire to belong and become associated with them by using Korean products and adopting the norms. As a result, many advertisements in those countries use Korean celebrities.

This is a shop in Nepal using the name and the picture of a Korean girl group Girl’s Generation. The clothes in there have nothing to do with Girl’s Generation, but it means Korean wave is influential just by itself. This shop used popularity of Korean celebrities as a marketing strategy.

Now, with Psy’s worldwide hit song, Korean wave is on its way to target consumers in other regions of the world as well.

For example, Hite Jinro, a beer and soju (Korean traditional drink) company, used Psy as its main model to promote soju targeting Western customers. With his funny image and worldwide fame, Psy is a perfect model to advertise Korean traditional drink to foreign customers.

It’s seen in this article that Korean wave is opening new doors for not only Korean companies but for promoting tourism in Korea as well. Many people want to visit Gangnam, a central part of Seoul, and Korea Tourism Organization is using this opportunity to raise the profile of the destination.

With the new marketing opportunities the Korean wave is offering, Korean companies can expand their markets and target broader segments.