[KK comeback approaching! No plans to go on broadcasts?! Controversy]
[KK, can they get first place even without a music broadcast?]
[Activities without music broadcasts? KK’s new approach! We’ll see…]
[Broadcast stations who had enjoyed KK exclusive, shocked…]
[Continue has more than 100 million views, high expectations for the new song]
[The Billboard, Rookie of the Year Award, The Blue House…where to next? KK MV releases tonight]
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They planned to hold a performance on the online broadcast ‘meApp’, which was produced by the online portal site ‘Friends’, after the music video was released at midnight*. The venue and schedule of the performance were not announced, causing confusion among the fans.
(TL Note: I found this and the next few lines a bit confusing. I guess 1. The ‘meApp’ performance isn’t immediately after the MV release. 2. People are aware that there will be a performance but it wasn’t officially announced that it’ll be on ‘meApp’)
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-What the…Has HIT Entertainment gone crazy? Why won’t they do broadcasts
-Are they saying they’re on a level where they don’t have to do broadcasts anymore
-When the heck will their performance be T.T T.T T.T
-The broadcast stations aren’t the problem. Where are we supposed to watch performances then T.T T.T ?
-HIT Entertainment lololol They’ve gone crazy after winning the Grand Prize twice…lol…lol
-It means that their performances will be on meApp, but why the heck is there no announcement
-They’re not going to do it without an audience, are they? *shaking*
-I’m really really looking forward to the music video but i’m confused at the same time T.T
-2222* I want to watch the performance in person with my own two eyes!
(TL Note: Korean internet slang for enthusiastically agreeing with something/someone, like “me too”)
-If you want to watch it in person, they have more fans now so you’ll have to stay up all night for at least 3 nights straight. I’m glad this happened!! I can’t watch it and now other people can’t watch it either
-Lolol they’ve lost their minds
-I’ve been waiting so long for the comeback T.T
The members and the Fan Marketing team were already aware of all the articles that had been released so far and the fans’ reactions to them. It was a situation they had anticipated when they were devising the strategy for the new full-length album.
However, there were even more performances prepared for the fans in place of music broadcasts. This was all part of the strategy for that.
Primary, they had chosen the online portal site over broadcast stations.
Within Korea, the power of the portal site ‘Friends’ was gaining as much power as music broadcasts. They wanted to take advantage of ‘Friends’’ increasing power and enjoy the same influence and advertising revenues as broadcast stations or the global streaming site ‘MyTube’. The result was the creation of ‘meApp’.
It was an online broadcast station meant for celebrities. To promote ‘meApp’, Friends asked KK to do a live broadcast performance.
It was a very favorable condition where Friends would bear the entire production cost of the performance. At the same time, on Friends’ end it was a worthwhile proposal.
If they were able to promote through KK, they would attract not only domestic users but also users all throughout the world.
At the moment, KK was knee deep in preparing for their comeback.
Following their win of the Billboard Rookie of the Year Award, KK became a group who swept the Grand Prize at all music broadcast award ceremonies in Korea for two consecutive years, including three cable broadcasting companies.
Furthermore, the performance at The Blue House made KK’s ranking very high.
Despite that, broadcast stations’ focuses were still on large agencies.
TBN and SVS had already given KK a three-song long performance slot before. However, this time they had shortened the time by 30 seconds. Moreover, one cable broadcast station, which was strongly influenced by large companies, suddenly announced that it would arrange the performance line-up by debut year.
HIT Entertainment wasn’t even monopolizing the stage over other singers. The problem was that the broadcast stations’ actions were very obvious. Large agencies had started colluding to keep KK in check.
KK did receive the Grand Prize at the award ceremony, but in comparison, Ara Entertainment’s M2M and Chung Wuel’s BIG received higher prizes than they earned, taking 3rd and 4th place. The broadcast stations were still walking on eggshells, as they had always been.
Large agencies felt that HIT Entertainment had intruded on the market they had been strategically maintaining.
It wasn’t just Director Seo Joong Won, who was being pressured by investors, getting compared to KK. Other large agencies were all being reprimanded for not performing as well as KK.
Therefore, HIT Entertainment was like a thorn in their side.
As a broadcast station, they couldn’t lose all of the large agencies’ singers solely over KK. It wasn’t like they said they wouldn’t deal with KK at all, so they thought HIT Entertainment wouldn’t be able to refuse.
“…We have decided to try something new.”
Team leader Lee Dae Hyung explained as he moved on to the next slide of the powerpoint.
He all but verbally said that they had decided not to be swayed by broadcast stations any longer. The HIT Entertainment employees nodded their heads and agreed with what Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung was saying.
It wasn’t only the Fan Marketing team. Employees in other departments were well aware that the broadcast stations’ treatment of KK was not as good as when singers from larger agencies did equally well.
There wasn’t even a single singer in Korea who had achieved the same level of success as KK anymore. It was unprecedented.
Previously, KK was not in a position to use their power to sway broadcasts. However, now KK had also made a power move.
The one who started this discussion was Do Wook.
“If broadcast stations are going to continue catering only to large agencies like this, it’s time for us to find another way too.”
Department Head Jo Anna, who was in charge of planning and operation, was surprised by what Do Wook had said, but agreed at the same time. She also thought that in order to further grow HIT Entertainment here, the cartel-like and inappropriate symbiotic relationship between the broadcaster and the three major agencies should be brought down.
That was the only way small-medium sized agencies like HIT Entertainment could have the competitiveness to grow significantly.
KK’s current situation was a very special case. It was only possible because they had KK as an ace up their sleeve.
“Instead of going on music broadcasts, we decided to join hands with Friends and start nation-wide performances through meApp.”
The executives had already approved this so they were already aware, but the employees in other departments couldn’t help but be surprised by the innovative promotion strategy. They also had concerns. Seeing the concern and surprise on the employees’ faces, Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung continued to explain.
“It’s guerilla warfare. Performances will be every three days for a month. The venue will be announced 3 hours before a performance. Our team is working hard to ensure confidentiality, so…don’t be upset that we’re not sharing the information with you.”
After a serious explanation, his playful tone made the employees laugh and ease up. He was joking, but there was also some truth.
Of course, as the performances went on, it was inevitable that the venue information would get leaked. However, they wanted at least the first performance to follow the spirit of ‘Guerilla Warfare’ and be kept confidential.
“All performances will be broadcasted live globally through meApp.”
Do Wook and the members’ eyes were shining.
It was a new style of performance. It was a new challenge. There definitely was the concern of, “Can this succeed?”
However, the members had various experiences of success. Therefore, rather than concern, their hearts were pounding at the face of a new challenge and the sense of accomplishment that would follow.
“Instead of going on music broadcasts, we’ll become viral by doing guerilla performances. Will it be successful? Just where will the next performance be? They have to pay attention the entire month that performances happen.”
The employees nodded their heads.
It wasn’t that they wouldn’t go on broadcasts at all. Park Tae Hyung was scheduled to appear on < Dancing Dancing > anyways.
If they proved that they could promote an album enough without the broadcast stations and be successful, it would be the music broadcast PDs, who had held the power, who would be sweating bullets.
Rookie Development Team Leader Im Sung Ahn, who was also present, nodded her head. Her heart was pounding, so she took a sip of the water in front of her. It seemed like just yesterday they were holding auditions to pick members, but the members had become singers of a completely different level from currently existing singers.
To the extent that an innovative plan like this was worth trying.
“The idea is to go around the country and meet more fans. We concluded that it fits well with the theme of ‘Connection,’ the album’s title and title song. We received sponsorships not only from Friends but also the Korea Tourism Organization. The areas we perform at will naturally get promotion for the region.”
On a micro level, one reason for this plan was that they didn’t want fans to have to stay up multiple nights to attend music broadcasts.
There were so many fans who wanted to watch KK’s performance that they needed to accommodate more people and perform more frequently.
Afterwards, Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung explained what kind of efforts were needed at the company level for the Guerilla Warfare. After many explanations, Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung turned off the powerpoint.
“It’ll be hard, but please bear with me for one month.”
The employees applauded at Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung’ final comments and the presentation wrapped up.
Continuing on, the HIT Entertainment President spoke briefly about HIT Entertainment’s vision for the future.
This project was just the beginning. To not be swayed by the power of large agencies or broadcast stations, they would continue growing their power.
Lastly, the KK members got up from their seats and bowed as they said they were looking forward to working together with everyone.
Broadcast stations might get upset and say they had forgotten about their rookie days and were acting arrogant, but the KK members’ mindset has not changed from the beginning.
Rather, they wanted to try even harder to bring about change. They had more confidence that they could change something.
The lights came on in the dark conference room and one by one people started to leave. Once the door opened, the room that was feeling stuffy from a lot of people gathering together felt better.
The Fan Marketing Team members, including Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung, were cleaning up the conference room, and the Album Production Team Leader Shim Joon and his team were discussing the final revision of the music video that they had just shown to the staff.
Assistant Manager Kwon Woo Chan, the Album Production Team member in charge of the performances, hurriedly answered his phone and left the conference room. Assistant Manager Kwon Woo Chan was one of the people on this project who was busier than Team Leader Lee Dae Hyung.
This was because he had to work with meApp officials and external performance teams to prepare for the guerrilla performance that would take place every three days.
The first performance was tomorrow.
Do Wook thought as he looked at Assistant Manager Kwon Woo Chan hurrying,
‘Tomorrow’s performance is one thing, but first off, the response to the music video and sound file releasing tonight absolutely has to be good!’
Winning the Billboard award was definitely an achievement, but depending on the result of the new album, they could be ridiculed that they were a one-hit wonder.
“You guys, hurry back to the dormitory and get some rest!”
Manager Oh Baek Ho yelled at the members who hesitantly stayed back in the conference room.
“We need to try to get 10,000 people at tomorrow’s performance.”
“Omg….”
Ahn Hyung Seo let out a surprised exclamation at what Manager Oh Baek Ho said. 10,000 people with only a 3-hour notice was ridiculous. KK’s current target number was 1000. He said 10 times the amount, so it was understandably surprising.
“You can do it. You’re KK. Don’t forget that!”
Manager Oh Baek Ho made the KK members smile. They nodded their heads.
It was actually Manager Oh Baek Ho who expressed the biggest concern about the new strategy. However, he was also the one who was rooting for KK more than anyone.
Manager Oh Baek Ho was conservative. However, there definitely was a need for conservative opinions. It wasn’t pleasant when there was disagreement, but it allowed them to come up with a number of alternatives.
‘We were also able to consider what to do if this project should fail…’
Do Wook thought.
However, you never start a project with failure as a goal. They had to succeed.
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Saturday 1 o’clock, 12 hours after KK’s new song and music video were released.
A huge pop-up window appeared on the homepage of the portal site Friends.
≪ Connection with KK! First Guerrila Performance ≫
Republic of Korea University Auditorium, 4 pm.
Please connect with KK!
At the same time, the performance will be broadcasted live on meApp.
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An hour earlier, KK’s fan club, Key Ring, had received an exclusive text message with the same information.
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Next chapter: KK gets ready for their first performance of this new PR strategy