Summary
In 2022, K-Pop band BTS was ready to drop their first ever anthology album. For online audio streaming app Spotify, the task was to cash in on this global event and make K-Pop synonymous to Spotify. The app was already known for providing a curated music experience to music listeners.
Challenge
Our two objectives were, to promote popular K-Pop band BTS's new album on Spotify and win over their fans among the Gen Z, and also acquire new listeners in the process.
Objective
In 2022, K-Pop band BTS was ready to drop their first ever anthology album. For online audio streaming app Spotify, the task was to cash in on this global event and make K-Pop synonymous to Spotify. The app was already known for providing a curated music experience to music listeners. Owning the new and emerging space of K-Pop among gen Z would mean an expanded reach in loyal audiences and furthering the brand purpose of music for everyone. This led to India's largest ever branded outreach for the K-Pop community garnering us over 10.2 million views.
Strategy
Unlike other widely popular music genres, K-Pop has a niche and cult following which was spearheaded by niche creators with close ties to the subculture. These listeners were not having their K-pop fan moments on popular platforms or forums. The idea was owning the album release to drive exclusivity and eventually be known in the K-Pop spaces as our listeners' favorites. It was a tactical move as a part of a larger outreach to the K-Pop community to familiarize listeners with Spotify's offerings. We started by scanning social media for top BTS communities, filtering out the creators who use or have used BTS or K-Pop songs in their reels or videos. We also identified key artists and celebrities who had spoken about BTS or were self-proclaimed fans of K-Pop. This led us to conduct India's largest BTS community outreach program and we got on board 1 Mega BTS fan, more than 70 BTS community pages, 20+ core BTS creators and more than 50+ micro creators, each of who created unique pieces of content to promote the album. The community pages participated in the teaser campaign by unveiling a unique participation-driven, mobile-first microsite where one can create personalized BTS videos, giving Gen Z fans a shareable experience. Users could find out what kind of a K-Pop fan they were through fun quizzes and connect with other ardent fans like themselves. Macro influencers created Reels talking about this experience and drove fans to create their own BTS Moment on the microsite. Community pages were used to create intrigue about the album and drive further traffic. We also got Rashmika Mandanna – who is a huge KPOP fan to talk about her love for KPOP and plug in BTS's new album in the content.
Data
Unlike other widely popular music genres, K-Pop has a niche and cult following which was spearheaded by niche creators with close ties to the subculture. These listeners were not having their K-pop fan moments on popular platforms or forums. The idea was owning the album release to drive exclusivity and eventually be known in the K-Pop spaces as our listeners' favorites. It was a tactical move as a part of a larger outreach to the K-Pop community to familiarize listeners with Spotify's offerings.
Solution
Results
The community pages drove 400k clicks to the microsite with more than 200k unique users. The content created by Rashmika and the macro influencers got 10.2 mn views, about 120k clicks to the album on Spotify and an engagement of 1.6 mn. We started by scanning social media for top BTS communities, filtering out the creators who use or have used BTS or K-Pop songs in their reels or videos. We also identified key artists and celebrities who had spoken about BTS or were self-proclaimed fans of K-Pop. This led us to conduct India's largest BTS community outreach program and we got on board 1 Mega BTS fan, more than 70 BTS community pages, 20+ core BTS creators and more than 50+ micro creators, each of who created unique pieces of content to promote the album. The community pages participated in the teaser campaign by unveiling a unique participation-driven, mobile-first microsite where one can create personalized BTS videos, giving Gen Z fans a shareable experience. Users could find out what kind of a K-Pop fan they were through fun quizzes and connect with other ardent fans like themselves.
