Find out how this K-pop group promoted its new album through posters, a QR code, and an audio file! [Thursday: Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing]
Miles Everson’s The Business Builder Daily speaks to the heart of what great marketers, business leaders, and other professionals need to succeed in advertising, communications, managing their investments, career strategy, and more.
A Note from Miles Everson:
Here’s to a joyful Thursday!
To kickstart your day, let’s talk about guerrilla marketing.
If you aren’t familiar yet, guerrilla marketing is an attention-grabbing and unconventional strategy that’s used to promote a product, brand, or message. Campaigns of this type are known for their cost-effectiveness, virality, and creativity!
Today, let’s take a look at a guerrilla marketing campaign for a K-pop album.
Ready to know more about today’s topic?
Keep reading below.
Miles Everson
CEO, MBO Partners
Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute
Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing
K-pop has garnered lots of attention worldwide thanks to its jaw-dropping choreography, heart-warming song lyrics, and mesmerizing music videos. The success of this music genre can also be attributed to the brilliant marketing strategies Korean music labels use.
Some of the tactics used to promote K-pop artists and groups include interactive fan engagements, global tours, performances in music television programs, and collaborations with brands and other musical acts.
Aside from the strategies enumerated above, K-pop groups make use of guerrilla marketing as well!
In fact, in 2022, a renowned K-pop squad conducted a guerrilla marketing campaign for its 8th mini album.
The name of this group?
ATEEZ!
Photo from ATEEZ’s Official X Account
ATEEZ consists of Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yunho, Yeosang, San, Mingi, Wooyoung, and Jongho.
Ever since its formation, the K-pop idol group has received widespread critical acclaim from both fans and critics. In fact, ATEEZ has won multiple awards due to its awe-inspiring performances and unique musical style.
According to news outlets and critics, the K-pop group is able to attract and retain audiences because of its ability to incorporate catchy and captivating themes into its music and performances.
In January 2022, ATEEZ resumed its concerts in South Korea, United States, and Europe after canceling tour dates due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the European leg for its second world tour, the members of ATEEZ hinted that they were preparing something for their fans. Due to this, KQ Entertainment, the music label behind ATEEZ, had to come up with a way to promote the squad’s new work.
The marketing team’s answer to this challenge?
Posters with QR codes and the iOS’ airdrop function!
On April 23, 2022, fans spotted numerous posters scattered around the concert venue in Madrid, Spain and in the neighborhood of Hongdae, South Korea.
Photo from LiveJournal
Aside from displaying images that referenced the K-pop group, the posters included a QR code that directed viewers to a YouTube video that hinted at an event scheduled for July 2022.
Due to the attention-grabbing designs and insertion of QR code to these posters, fans of the K-pop group started to speculate on what ATEEZ was planning to do.
As it turns out, the K-pop squad was planning to release a new album filled with new concepts and ideas.
Aside from the posters that came with a QR code, the guerrilla marketing campaign for ATEEZ’s new album had another layer to it.
During the 300th episode of SBS’ “The Show,” fans who queued for the program received an audio file via AirDrop.
According to fan discussion websites, the audio file contained snippets of the new album’s songs.
Aside from sending audio files to fans, ATEEZ posted a QR code on all of its social media accounts that, when scanned, led followers to the same audio recording. However, the published posts were removed on the same day to further generate buzz for the group’s brand and new album.
So, was ATEEZ’s guerrilla marketing campaign effective?
YES!
The response of both hardcore and casual fans to the K-pop group’s guerrilla marketing campaign was overwhelmingly positive.
Aside from the fan response, the guerilla marketing campaign helped ATEEZ attain the following accolades for its album titled “The World Ep. 1: Movement”:
- The album surpassed 1 million pre-orders.
- Based on data from Hanteo Charts, the album sold more than 270,000 copies during its first day of release.
- The album sold 936,055 copies during its first week, a 40% increase in sales from previous releases.
- On August 7, 2022, the album debuted at #3 on Billboard’s Top 200 Albums Chart.
The results above indicate that ATEEZ’s guerrilla marketing campaign paid off nicely in helping the group generate buzz for its new album!
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What is the key takeaway from ATEEZ’s guerrilla marketing campaign?
It’s important to come up with ways to actively and meaningfully engage with your target audience. The K-Pop group pulled this off through a guerilla marketing campaign that was specifically created to generate buzz among casual and hardcore fans.
By coming up with posters that contained a QR code and an audio file that hinted at the release of a new album, ATEEZ effectively captured the attention of its target audience. This, in turn, led to word about the new album spreading like wildfire.
We hope you enjoyed today’s “Gorillas of Guerilla Marketing!”
May ATEEZ’s guerrilla marketing campaign serve as a source of inspiration for promoting your brand or product!
(This article is from The Business Builder Daily, a newsletter by The I Institute in collaboration with MBO Partners.)
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Thursdays: Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing”
Jay Conrad Levinson (1984) said that Guerrilla Marketing “works because it’s simple to appreciate, easy to execute, and inexpensive.”
Guerrilla Marketing is unconventional.
Looking beyond the traditional ways of advertising, marketers, and advertisers need to spice things up in order for their brand to have campaigns that not only make an impact but also stick to their target market’s mind.
Guerrilla Marketing usually aims to have direct contact with consumers.
This type of direct contact should spark an emotional reaction that leads to consumers effectively remembering the brand.
It’s about making a big impression and making that impression last a long time (if not forever).
Guerrilla Marketing can be inexpensive.
The effect of this is being able to create a buzz around the brand, and the strategy used to market it. Almost everything is passed around through word-of-mouth.
Word-of-mouth is one of the greatest outcomes and it usually doesn’t cost anything.
This is every business’ or brand’s dream!
Every Thursday, we publish tips, examples, and other useful content on unconventional ways of marketing and promotion.
Learn more about how to grab your target market’s attention and make an amazing first and lasting impression without having to spend a lot of money.
Businesses don’t really need to spend much for a guerrilla campaign. You do not need a big budget to be successful. You just need creativity and a good imagination.
Hope you’ve found this week’s guerrilla marketing insight interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Thursday’s Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing!
Cheers,
Kyle Yu
Head of Marketing
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
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