'Melting' conventional marketing and branding standards, the BTS way!

As per reports, BTS is worth more than $3.6 billion a year to the South Korean economy and is projected to bring in as much as $37 billion over the next decade. (Source: AP)

If there’s a music group that has walked their dream of global domination in recent years, it's BTS. Their latest English single, Butter debuted at the top of Billboard Hot 100 songs chart, along with charting the biggest premiere in Youtube history, amassing 3.9 million viewers simultaneously. And not just that,  with more than 108.2 million views within 24 hours of its release, it set an all-time Youtube record, along with being the most streamed song within the first week of release in the history of Amazon Music. 

The group’s incredible success and strong fanbase have attracted many brands globally to collaborate with them. In keeping with it, Mcdonald's has introduced the BTS meal in India, which packs in many South Korean flavors, all for Rs 300. Along with this, merchandise like hoodies, socks and more are being launched on Weverse, a digital platform for fanbases of various artists in the fan-favorite color, Purple.

Humble Beginnings 

The seven-member band debuted in 2013, with members- Jin, Suga, J-Hope, RM, Jimin, V, and Jungkook considered as underdogs in the industry. This was despite some of the group members having produced award-winning music for other K-Pop artists in the past. A major reason was also that their label, BigHit Entertainment, was relatively unknown in the face of the three major South Korean entertainment labels- SM, YG, and JYP. 

But thanks to the band’s meteoric rise, the label was able to rack up a vastly successful IPO (Initial Public Offer) in October 2020, raising more than 800 million dollars in the initial offering which was oversubscribed more than 600 times. Sky-rocketing the company’s valuation to almost 4 billion dollars, this was South Korea’s largest share market offering since July 2017. 

Authentic, Natural, True

But what lies behind their universal appeal? One of the very few K-Pop bands to have conquered the western markets, it holds the honor of being the only Asian music group to earn a Grammy nomination for their first English single, Dynamite. And not just that, BTS has also joined the league of legends like the Beatles to have three number-one albums on the coveted Billboards 200 charts in less than a year. 

Rushda Anwer, an avid KPOP fan and a social media professional, believes that the real reason for the band’s success is the conversations they choose to have and their personalities. “Through their songs, they tell powerful stories about self-love, empowerment, mental health, and narratives that everyone can easily relate to. Generally, KPop groups have a standardized quality about them. But BTS is known for making intelligent art, where they experiment a lot with their music. The biggest reason everyone can connect with them is that their artistic expression does not feel manufactured”, she said. 

The members of the band are known for their humble, charitable personalities. Apart from donating to countless social causes across the globe like the BLM (Black Lives Matter) movement, where they donated $ 1 million, they also partnered with UNICEF to launch the Love Myself campaign, which raised around $ 1.4 million dollars worldwide. 

Apart from active social contributions, the first tenet of a successful brand is how effectively and consistently it is able to establish communication with its fanbase. And according to Ahsaas Verma, Senior Executive Digital, MSL India, BTS has successfully cultivated a strong sense of belonging and family in their fandom, thanks to their frequent interactions, constant visibility, and a head start in creating a solid fanbase as early as 2013.
“Their personalized approach to art has struck a chord with many individuals around the world. They succeed in making us believe that they are just like us-hardworking, normal and authentic”, he elaborated. 

Creating an experience 

As per reports, BTS is worth more than $3.6 billion a year to the South Korean economy and is projected to bring in as much as $37 billion over the next decade. Developing a brand image this successful definitely needs more than simply selling musical singles. 

Per Jigisha Sai, a BTS fan and a student at XIC, Mumbai, the key is creating an experience for the fans. “Once a BTS fan is always a BTS fan. That's because when they release a song, they create a whole package around it, where there is everything from how the song came to be to photocards, phone covers, and other associated merchandise. The members also connect frequently with their fans on Weverse and other platforms, which makes them extremely relatable. There are subscriptions for loyalty programs, where you can also get BTS merch. The fan community is also a positive space, which makes the entire BTS experience amazing”, she ends.