6 Marketing Lessons Inspired by BTS

You must have already seen a number of YouTube videos or heard about them peripherally.

BTS (Bangtan Sonyeondan, loosely translated to English as Bangtan Boys) has definitely reached the mark of legend as they are the only boy band since the Beatles who have charted three number ones in a single year in the US Billboard. But broke the record to have achieved it in 11 months only compared to Beatles’ 11 months and 1 week.

Many would say that this Korean pop sensation is the next Beatles. Apparently not. They are BTS. The first and only of their landmark and their success continues to grow.

But beyond their colossal and admirable success, they inspire what Marketers are always striving for – creating compelling brands and advertising that sell… a lot.

Similar to creating a hit song or pop star, let me share with you 6 cardinal elements to improve your Branding and Advertising as inspired by BTS.

Don’t be boring

This group’s distinctive styles, music, choreography, and production value are always fresh and exciting.

Thus with your branding and advertising, be captivating, original, and bring something different to the table that others don’t. It’s all about the optics and sound bites.

Be versatile enough and change things up as often and as necessary to stay interesting and relevant to your audience. Play up your copywriting style, graphic design, media, and messaging. Put on some swag, personality, quirkiness, and humour suitable for your brand voice and target audience.

Have a “hit voice”

They have strong vocals, provocative bass, and lyrical structure on the first few beats and words. So you instantly know that you will like their song from the first 8 seconds.

So your material must instantly invoke sentiment, excitement, or desire on your target audience.

Jazz it up to complement your brand and target audience personality – be distinctive with the tone and delivery of the written voice or visual presentation.

Create a “four chord”

It’s the hook or sound bite that sticks in the heads of your audience like a last song syndrome.

Create a clear and distinct message or theme to make it easily remembered and repeated by your audience. Thus, making your brand memorable.

Be relatable and engaging

These guys are so prolific in social media and their millions of fans continue to grow and expand around the world.

Utilize the reach and power of social media to humanize your brand. Create content that resonates with your audience like live streams, casual conversations, real-life problem solving scenarios or demos.

Then, engage, engage, engage – audiences respond better to real people than brand entities – and shower them with endless gratitude and appreciation.

Always evolve and offer something different

Beyond singing and performing, this group have several tv shows, mobile game, BT21 Project, and other various other ventures.

Beyond your usual offering, create or ride the trends to attract more customers. Also, provide something special every so often or diversify your service or product offering. Not only will this make you more interesting and buzz-worthy but it will also provide you with other business opportunities.

Have a team

As the saying goes, it takes a village to raise a child. So does your brand and advertising.

So, you have to nurture team that work well together and collaborate as you have a lot of ground to cover to make your Marketing work.

Choose members or partners who are equally high performing and committed and accountable, creative and innovative, personable and engaging.

In Marketing, specifically in Advertising and Branding, it’s a constant play of smart and agile experimentation as trends are ever changing and fast in this digital age.

Be brave to try something new or to jazz it up so you can stay relevant, memorable, and competitive.

Just remember to cultivate creativity and innovation in every step of your ideation and execution.

Also, keep an open mind to anticipate what your audience or customers want and how you can be their first choice.

On a more personal note: So this is the song that my kids introduced me to years ago and I instantly became a fan. And I was even more thrilled that Steve Aoki was onboard. 💥

I would love to meet their executive and creative team for such a remarkable and masterful job in all these years.