I found this article interesting because it not only touched on the topic of entertainment, it planted roots in branding, marketing and international relations. 34-year old Korean rapper, Psy, released a global hit “Gangnam Style”, that has topped both U.S. and U.K. chats in most recent weeks. What’s extremely intriguing is how this viral video with over 400 million hits on YouTube acts as much more than just entertainment. It has brought an extremely high amount of attention to South Korea. President, Lee Myung-bak has always stressed the importance of showing the country’s more “soft power”. Psy is literally acting as a magnet for foreigners in the Korean economy. As more attention is brought to Korea in general, the more people take a liking to Korea and in turn Korean products. And there you have it, by simply drawing general attention to a nation, the activity within it’s entire economy can be effected over night. Even though this video is a fad, and will likely die down soon, it acts as a jump-start for the popularity and positive branding of that “softer-side South Korea.” We know that branding and marketing is key in commerce to not only get your name out there but to build a solid reputation as well.
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lots of people around the world did not know about South Korea… until the song of gangnam style came out. When I asked people about Korea, they only mentioned about nuclear weapons or Kim jeong il… However, now so many people know where Gangnam street is in South Korea… Psy really helped South Korea to be more familiar with the world! Thanks