Imagine having a direct line to your idols. See how a genius marketing stunt turned this into a reality!

Thursday: Gorillas of Guerrilla Marketing FROM THE DESK OF MILES EVERSON: Have you ever heard of "guerrilla marketing"? If not, here's a quick explanation: Guerrilla marketing is a creative and sometimes low-cost way to grab people's attention through unique and surprising promotional campaigns. I personally find such strategies fascinating because they illustrate how stepping outside of conventional advertising practices can effectively boost a brand or product. Today, let's look at an example of this marketing strategy. Are you ready? Continue reading below to discover how the marketing team of this South Korean girl group made it easier for fans to connect with their favorite artists. CEO, MBO Partners Chairman of the Advisory Board, The I Institute

Imagine having a direct line to your idols. See how a genius marketing stunt turned this into a reality! Korean Pop, commonly referred to as K-pop, has emerged as a global cultural phenomenon over the past two decades. With its infectious melodies, captivating choreography, and visually stunning music videos, this genre of music has captured the hearts of millions of fans worldwide. As K-pop continues to expand its influence across the globe, hundreds of K-pop groups have emerged. One of them is NewJeans, a five-member South Korean girl group that burst onto the K-pop scene in 2022 and quickly garnered an immense following. To effectively connect with supporters even before the group’s debut, All Doors One Room (ADOR), the music label managing NewJeans, released an app in July 2022 that would enable fans to share their lives with the K-pop icons. What was the app called? Phoning! Phoning is a mobile application made specifically for the rookie group. The app is a collaboration with Weverse, a South Korean web platform designed to connect fans to each other and with their favorite K-pop artists and groups. While Weverse already has a platform for K-pop groups and fans to communicate, it’s the first time that the company has made a dedicated app for one group. Aside from texting, the Phoning app also has other features. For instance: Fans are able to play dress-up games with the members of NewJeans, design their own albums, and create ID cards on the app. Phoning also gives fans access to unreleased selfies and photos of NewJeans and notifies users of the group’s upcoming schedules and teasers. Live streams are also provided to fans in the form of video calls. Cool, right? There’s more! Phoning has a retro vibe, with quirky scrapbook elements and feel throughout the app. Its interface was well-thought-out with playful imagery, reflecting NewJeans’ overall aesthetic of bright, colorful, and fun. As a marketing effort for NewJeans’ debut, Phoning was a success. The app currently has over 100,000 downloads from people all over the world and boasts an impressive rating of 3.9 stars on Google Play and 4.1 stars on the Apple App Store. Phoning also generated buzz on various social media platforms such as Weverse and Twitter, with multiple users reacting to the features and nostalgic touch of the mobile app. With the help of Phoning and other marketing stunts by ADOR, NewJeans’ debut was highly anticipated by many. The group debuted with a music video for their single, “Attention,” on July 22, 2022, and the song currently has over 54 million views. They then released their debut album, “New Jeans,” on August 1, 2022, selling over 260,000 copies on its first day. Today, NewJeans is known worldwide as one of the most successful K-pop girl groups even with only a year of exposure. With constant release of hit after hit, the group’s fan base grew, which NewJeans named “Bunnies.” Congrats to NewJeans and ADOR’s marketing team for the success of the Phoning app and other promotional efforts! *Clap clap clap* — What are the takeaways from this clever guerrilla marketing stunt? One of the standout lessons brands can learn from ADOR and NewJeans is the importance of engaging with their target market. ADOR's strategic decision to launch Phoning heightened NewJeans’ connection with its fans and created hype around the group’s debut. This shows businesses should consider various efforts to connect with their target audience on a deeper, more personalized level. Such initiatives help foster stronger connections and customer loyalty, as seen in NewJeans' devoted fan base. Phoning's array of features also offered fans an immersive experience beyond traditional communication. Brands can emulate this strategy by creating engaging and entertaining content to enhance the overall customer experience and encourage more engagements. Lastly, ADOR took advantage of strategic timing. By launching Phoning ahead of NewJeans' debut, the marketing team maximized the impact of the app as a tool to attract fans and generate interest in the girl group’s upcoming debut. Brands can learn from this by timing their product or service launches to intrigue new customers and excite their existing clientele. So… the bottom line? BE CREATIVE! Think about what other brands haven’t done yet in terms of marketing. Creativity helps you and your business stand out in a busy market, and with so much information and advertisements nowadays, doing things in “New(Jeans) ways” gets consumers’ attention and makes them want to engage with you. Hope you’ve found this week’s guerrilla marketing insight interesting and helpful.     Do you want to know how one Australian organization raised awareness about the various dilemmas encountered by people with different diseases? See it in next week’s article!