THE K-POP STRATEGIES WE SHOULD PAY ATTENTION TO
It's not news to us that Korean idols go through intensive training for years, during which they learn how to sing, dance, and most importantly, how to behave in public and during interviews.
They learn how to be entertainers, and their personalities are strategically developed so that the public can easily identify with them.
Now, when we talk about personal marketing, we can simplify it and say it can be done in three main ways. You just need to know where to place it:
1 - be someone people want to date
2- be someone people want to be friends with
3 -be someone people want to be
Starting with those 3 principles, the K-pop industry has been pre-fabricating the idol's image even before they debut. Why is that? Because it makes them feel friendly and funny to the fans, bringing the feeling of intimacy, closeness and self-recognition.
The strategic team, based on data, creates a group with a marketing purpose. They create the group image - fashion, archetypes, self-insert, brand, etc. - concept - songs, performances, music videos, and group visual - to activate the group's marketing goals.
The goal is to make the group/act so appealing that the fans fall in love instantly with the idols. Thus, they start caring and protecting them as if they were members of their own families.
One of the strategies used in K-Pop is to make idols appealing to the public, not only in terms of physical appearance but also their personalities. Each member of the group has a unique appeal, such as music skills, main dancer, main rapper, visual beauty, funny or chic personalities, depending on the group's main strategy.
Each K-Pop group or solo artist is created with specific goals and market visions in mind. For example, girl groups like Twice have a fanciful and cute concept, which appeals more to male fans (59%) between 21 to 30 (32%) and 10 to 20 (30%). On the other hand, Blackpink has a girl power concept, which appeals more to female fans (61%) with similar age ranges.
As we can see, the cute concept primarily appeals to the male public, with the main principle being "someone people want to date." In contrast, the girl power concept uses the principle of "someone people want to be and be friends with," with most of the content focused on the group dynamic. There's also the portrayal of a fabulous life with pretty people, clothes by famous designers, luxury parties and vacations, famous friends, etc. This makes fans aspire to live like their idols, be inspired by their personalities, clothes, and lifestyles.
One of the strategies to increase the impact of these groups is the creation of archetypes, which allows fans to connect easily with the idols without the need to watch hours and hours of videos to understand their personalities.
However, archetypes in music are not something new to us. We have seen the Spice Girls and their archetypes - Scary Spice, Sporty Spice, Posh Spice, Baby Spice, and Ginger Spice. But the K-pop industry has taken archetypes to the next level.
Along with archetypes, the self-insert character strategy is also used. The self-insert strategy involves fans seeing themselves in the idols' personalities. The idols' personality, style, fashion, and behavior are created so that fans can live indirectly through them and project their desires onto the artists (similar to playing with dolls when we were kids).
The self-insert strategy allows the idols and their lives to become a fantasy that fans can live through and create their own personalities through the artists. The fantasy of a glamorous life, with parties, clothes, award shows, and famous friends, makes fans aspire to live like their idols.
A practical example (and the most successful) of archetype and self-insert is the girl group Blackpink. They don't create as much music content as other K-pop groups, but even so, they are currently the biggest girl group worldwide, having been the first K-Pop act to perform at Coachella.
Blackpink consists of four members: Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa. Even before their debut, the group had the international market as their primary goal, and all of the girls speak Japanese, with three of them also fluent in English.
As with every idol group, each member has their own role: Jisoo is the visual and lead vocalist, Jennie is the main rapper and lead vocalist, Rosé is the main vocalist and lead dancer, and Lisa is the main dancer, lead rapper, and maknae (the youngest member). In addition to these roles, each member has their own archetypes and self-inserts that are clearly defined.
Rosé is the "indie girl," a music lover whose dream of becoming a famous singer came true.
Jisoo has one of the most commonly used archetypes in the K-pop industry, the girl next door - charismatic, humble, funny, and hardworking, whom everyone adores.
The two most famous archetypes for self-insert are:
Jennie: "The human Chanel". This archetype represents a fashionable and glamorous personality, but with a bit of moodiness. Jennie is often seen wearing exclusive designer clothes and is involved in media scandals and romantic relationships, making many teenage girls jealous of her life. After all, who wouldn't want to be the most popular girl in school with amazing clothes and boyfriends?
Lisa: The underdog. Lisa came from Thailand and doesn't have typically Korean features, which makes her very popular outside Korea, especially in the West. This gives fans the fantasy that anyone in the world can become a K-Pop idol. This archetype is extremely relatable to teenage fans who may feel like underdogs themselves. Lisa wasn't particularly pretty or popular when she was younger, but she became one of the most beautiful K-Pop idols in the world, making teenage girls dream of being like her. Her personality is also relatable, as she is funny and cute, always making jokes and being awkwardly charming. However, on stage, she transforms into a woman with a lot of attitude and self-confidence. Her duality makes her personality relatable to girls with different styles. It's no wonder that she is the most followed K-pop idol on Instagram and the most famous idol outside Korea.
Blackpink, despite releasing relatively little music content, are featured in luxurious reality shows and fashion events, and they even serve as ambassadors for famous fashion and makeup brands, all in order to promote their archetypes and self-inserts.
It is worth noting that not every group has archetypes, and in some groups, one member can have more than one archetype.
But if you're wondering how idols' personalities become so striking to fans, I'll answer you: through mass dissemination.
The publicity strategies of K-Pop groups have a strong social media presence, including reality shows, vlogs, interviews, variety shows, and gossip. According to Schickel, the illusion of intimacy established between the celebrity and the public through the media is the foundation of their power of enchantment. It is the media that gives the impression that "the more you know about a celebrity, the closer you are to them and their life."
These content strategies are one of K-Pop's most effective weapons. They bring fans closer to idols and create the illusion of proximity that makes fans think of idols as someone closer, such as a friend, lover, or even an authority figure.
Do you want to learn more about K-Pop content strategies?
-idle.png)
