K-culture delivers opportunities for brands

K-culture, K-pop, K-drama — Korean popular culture is everywhere, and that’s good news for Korean brands. The world — and the press — is taking notice.

In sync with the rise of Korean pop culture is the international growth of Korean tech, entertainment and automotive brands. The whole world is paying attention to their rise.

It’s fair to say that Korea is undergoing a rebrand — at least on the global stage — and its culture is increasingly differentiated from its neighbors in the Asia-Pacific region.

For the international community, it has been convenient to package around 50 jurisdictions and cultures as one, but the region is only relevant as an expression of geography. It is fragmented in terms of culture, history, politics, economics and language.

For decades, there has been an assumption that language is a dis-enabler to distinct cultures breaking free of their regional labels and claiming their own identities internationally.

But, in recent years, Korea has proven that this need not be the case.

K-pop is in the Korean language. Dramas are in Korean. And the insights within the lyrics and scripts are very specific to Korean culture.

It has been a surprise to the Korean people how well Korean entertainment has pervaded global consciousness and reached heights of popularity that could never have been foreseen.

The global success of “Squid Game” is perhaps the ultimate indicator that language is no longer an issue in achieving worldwide attention.

This Netflix series — which revolves around contestants competing for money in a dangerous version of a children’s game — soon became one of Netflix’s mostwatched programs. The shock element captured imaginations.

And this is something the Korean entertainment industry does very well.

It takes a small idea and interprets it as high drama. This makes it both relatable and extraordinary.

Often, stories have a moral to them and encourage behavior change. And, of course, Korea is very good at the visual element.

This is all fabulous news for Korean firms.

Whether they are refreshing a brand or launching it from scratch, a brand needs a purpose that resonates with its audience and includes authentic storytelling.

The story is always front and center, and how you express that story succeeds if it is highly visual — not textual. That expression could be video, lyrics, animation, games or any other visual format that captures the audience’s imagination.

So, taking K-pop as an example, what attracts the audience is not just the song but also the video, the dancing, the styling and the fashion. The uniqueness of each band member is showcased, and, of course, the individuals also come together as a clearly identifiable whole. There is so much for brands to latch onto.

And none of this has happened by accident. It is not just luck that the world is now noticing Korean culture and the brands associated with it. It is more that the Korean entertainment industry is pushing hard — and doing so internationally.

Gen Z drives phenomenon

Korea is a very digital-savvy country. And Gen Z is clearly driving new heights of digital innovation. It stands to reason that K-culture has been propelled to global markets following a huge buy-in at home. And there is plenty of that.

The take-up of new applications, the willingness to try out new technologies and the prevalence of digitization and social media across the country are testament to this. It all helps Korea to become increasingly borderless.

What we have seen is that these phenomena start with Korea, then spread across the Asia-Pacific and may well find a global audience. There is certainly a global appetite, especially when K-pop stars are so willing to engage with fans, thereby creating huge momentum for their brands and the brands associated with them. K-culture entices consumers, and from that follows engagement.

And of course, whether this is Gen

Z-oriented or not, it is all digital, and that means it is easy to translate automatically, thereby removing the language barrier. But the Korean language has suddenly become popular in its own right — enabled by the English, or perhaps Spanish, hooks in K-pop songs.

Perception is everything

The upshot is that consumers globally are excited by Korean products in a whole new way. It is more than just sticking a “K” on products and brands. Consumers increasingly understand what “being Korean” means and are buying into the culture.

We are seeing a higher preference for Korean brands associated with one specific culture and not a region. And Korean brands are responding to this newfound brand love and are communicating as global brands, thereby busting out of their region.

There’s a lot to be learned from the K-culture phenomenon — by marketers, brands, content creators and even countries themselves.

None of this has happened by accident.