Chapter 189
# 190
Guerrilla Warfare (2)
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[KK’s comeback is imminent! No plans to appear on TV?! Controversy]
[Can KK win first place without music broadcasts?]
[Activities without music broadcasts? KK’s new attempt! Indeed..]
[The broadcasting stations that were trying to enjoy KK’s special are embarrassed…]
[Expecting new song views to continue exceeding 100 million views]
[Billboard Grand Prize Blue House… Where is this time? KK music video released tonight]
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After releasing the music video at midnight today, they will perform on stage through the Internet broadcast ‘me app’ produced by the Internet portal site ‘Friends’. The stage location and schedule have not been revealed, causing confusion among fans.
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-What… hit enter, aren’t you crazy? Why aren’t you broadcasting
? – Is this because it’s a class that doesn’t have to be broadcast
? – When is the performance?
– The broadcasting station isn’t the problem. Then, where should we watch the performance??
-Hit Enter hahahaha After winning the grand prize twice, I turned around… haha..haha
– They’re performing on the Mi App, so why on earth is there no announcement
? – They said they’re just doing it between themselves.
– I’m looking forward to the music video, but it’s confusing.
– I want to see the 2222 stage with my own eyes!
-Anyway, I would have had to stay up all night for the first three days because there were so many fans to go to the studio to see it, but it was good!! What I can’t see, others can’t see either!!
– Hahaha I went crazy
– I waited for a really long time for a comeback ㅠㅠ
The members’ fan-marketing team was already aware of the articles and fans’ reactions so far. This was also something that was expected when planning the strategy for the new full-length album.
However, instead of a music broadcast, more stages were prepared for fans. That was also the strategy.
First, they chose an Internet portal site instead of a broadcasting company.
The power of the portal site ‘Friends’ was growing as much as music broadcasting in Korea. ‘Friends’ wanted to use its growing power to enjoy the same influence and advertising revenue as broadcasters and the global streaming site ‘MyTube’. Thus, the ‘me app’ was created.
It was an internet broadcasting station for celebrities. To promote the ‘me app’, Friends suggested KK to broadcast the performance live.
It was an enormous condition that covered all production costs for the performance. At the same time, it was a proposal worth considering on Friends’ side.
If we promoted it through KK, we would be able to capture not only domestic users but also users from around the world.
At that time, KK was in the midst of preparing for a comeback.
Following winning the Billboard Rookie Award, KK became the singer who swept the grand prizes at all music broadcasting awards ceremonies in Korea, including the three broadcasting companies and cable broadcasting companies, for two consecutive years.
In addition, KK’s status was raised by the performance at the Blue House.
Nevertheless, it was still the large entertainment companies that drove the broadcasting companies.
TBN and SVS had already given KK stage time for three songs. However, this time, the time was cut off by about 30 seconds. Moreover, one cable station, which is heavily influenced by large entertainment companies, suddenly announced that the stage order would be in chronological order of debut year.
Hit Entertainment also did not intend to monopolize the stage over other singers. The problem was that the intention was too obvious. Large entertainment companies had colluded and started to keep things in check.
Although KK received the grand prize at the awards ceremony, Ara’s Man to Man and Cheongwol’s BIG received larger awards and hand-out awards compared to their performance, winning three and four awards. Just like before, I was watching.
Large entertainment companies thought that Hit Entertainment had entered the market that they had been maintaining in balance.
Ara’s general manager Seo Joong-won was not the only one under pressure from investors as he was compared to KK. All other large agencies were being reprimanded for not achieving the same results as KK.
So Hit Enter was like a thorn in my eye.
As a broadcasting company, it was impossible for them to miss out on all the singers from large entertainment companies just because of KK. Since they didn’t say they wouldn’t treat me at all, I thought Hit Entertainment wouldn’t be able to refuse.
“…We decided to try something new.”
Team leader Lee Dae-hyung explained while flipping through the PPT screen.
I just didn’t say out loud that I decided not to be influenced by the broadcasting company anymore. Hit Entertainment’s employees nodded and sympathized with Team Leader Lee Dae-hyung’s story.
Even if it wasn’t the fan-marketing team, employees in other departments were fully aware that KK’s treatment at the broadcasting company was worse than when a singer from another large agency had the same performance.
Even in Korea, there is no longer a singer who achieved the same results as KK. It was unprecedented.
Until now, KK was not in a position to protest against the broadcasting power. But now, KK’s side has also decided to take a chance.
It was Dowook who started this story.
‘If broadcasting companies continue to look at the opinions of large entertainment agencies like this, it is time for us to find another way.’
The person in charge of planning and operations who was surprised by Do-wook’s words but also agreed at the same time was Joanie Joanie, the manager in charge of planning and operations. Manager Joanie also thought that in order to further grow Hit Entertainment, it was necessary to crack the cartel-like and inappropriate symbiotic relationship between the broadcasting company and the three major entertainment companies.
Only then can small and medium-sized agencies like Hit Entertainment have the competitive edge to grow significantly.
Current KK was a very special case. This could only be done if you had a Joker card called K.K.
“Instead of appearing on music broadcasts, we decided to join forces with Friends and start performing nationwide through the me app.”
Executives knew about this because it was something they had approved, but employees in other departments were surprised by the innovative promotional strategy. There were also concerns. Team leader Lee Dae-hyung continued his explanation while looking at the faces of the employees with a mixture of surprise and concern.
“It’s a guerrilla war. The performance takes place once every three days for a month. The performance location will be announced 3 hours in advance. “We are working hard to maintain confidentiality within our team, so you shouldn’t be upset if we don’t tell you.”
The employees opened their mouths and laughed at the joking tone of Team Leader Lee Dae-hyung, who was giving a serious explanation. It was a joke, but it was also sincere.
Of course, if this performance continued, information on the performance location would inevitably be leaked. However, it was hoped that even for the first performance, confidentiality would be maintained in line with the meaning of the performance, which was named ‘Guerrilla Warfare’.
“All performances are broadcast live around the world on the Internet through the me app.”
Dowook and the members’ eyes were sparkling.
It was a new way of performing. It was a new challenge. ‘Will it really be successful?’ It wasn’t that there were no worries.
However, the members had various experiences of success. Therefore, rather than worry, my heart pounded with the new challenge and the sense of accomplishment that would follow.
“Instead of going on music broadcasts, we are gathering buzz in the form of guerrilla performances. Will it succeed? Where is next? “There is bound to be a lot of attention throughout the entire month that the performance lasts.”
The employees nodded.
It wasn’t that I wasn’t going to appear on broadcast at all. Taehyung Park was scheduled to appear on “Dancing Dancing” anyway.
If they proved that they could sufficiently promote the album and succeed without a broadcasting company, it would be the music broadcast PDs who were leading the charge.
Lim Seong-an, the team leader of the rookie development team who was present, also nodded and took a sip of the water in front of him, feeling his heart pounding. It seemed like just yesterday that the current members were selected through auditions, but they have become singers on a completely different level from the existing singers.
So much so that we can try new projects like this.
“The intention is to travel around the country and meet more fans. It was judged that it fit well with the theme of ‘Connection’, the title song and name of this album. In addition to being sponsored by Friends, we also received support from the Korea Tourism Organization. “If it becomes a performance area, it will naturally promote the area.”
On a micro level, it was a plan that included the hope that fans would not have to stay up all night to listen to music broadcasts.
Because there were so many fans who wanted to see KK’s performance, it was necessary to accommodate more people and conduct more frequent performances.
Afterwards, Team Leader Lee Dae-hyung explained what efforts were needed at the company level for this guerrilla war. After several explanations, Team Leader Lee Dae-hyung turned off the PPT screen.
“I would appreciate it if you could work hard together for a month.”
The employees ended with applause after Team Leader Daehyung Lee’s greeting.
Next, the president of Hit Entertainment gave a brief speech about Hit Entertainment’s future vision.
This project was only the beginning, and the plan was to increase strength in the future so as not to be swayed by large entertainment companies or broadcasting power.
Lastly, the KK members stood up and bowed their heads to wish us well.
Broadcasting companies may be in an uproar for not being able to think ahead and becoming arrogant during their rookie days, but the mindset of the KK members has not changed from the beginning.
Rather, they just gained confidence that they could change something by working harder.
The lights turned on in the dark conference room, and people began to leave their seats one by one. When the door opened, many people gathered together, making the stuffy air feel a little better.
Team leader Lee Dae-hyung and other members of the fan-marketing team were organizing the conference room, while album production team leader Sim Jun and team members were talking about the final revision of the music video that had just been shown to the employees.
Assistant Manager Kwon Woo-chan, who is in charge of performing for the album production team, came out of the conference room while busy answering the phone. Assistant Manager Kwon Woo-chan was one of the busier people on this project than Team Manager Lee Dae-hyung.
This was because we had to prepare for a guerilla performance to be held once every three days in conjunction with me app officials and an external performance team.
Tomorrow was the first performance.
Do-wook thought as he looked at Assistant Manager Kwon Woo-chan’s busy appearance.
‘Tomorrow’s performance is also a performance, but the response to today’s music video and music release must be good!’
Winning the Billboard award was a clear achievement, but depending on the results of this album, it could have been ridiculed for being a one-time sensation and then fading away.
“You guys, hurry up and get some rest!”
Director Oh Baek-ho shouted to the hesitating members remaining in the conference room.
“We have to gather 10,000 people at tomorrow’s performance!”
“Heo-eok…”
Ahn Hyeong-seo made a noise in surprise at Director Oh Baek-ho’s words. The number of 10,000 people announced 3 hours ago was an absurd number. Currently, KK’s target number of people is 1,000. It was surprising that he said ten times that much.
“you can do it. It’s your K.K. do not forget!”
KK members smiled and nodded at Director Oh Baek-ho’s words.
In fact, it was Director Oh Baek-ho who expressed the most concern about this strategy. However, he was also the person who supported KK more than anyone else.
Director Oh Baek-ho was a conservative person. However, conservative opinions were clearly needed. It wasn’t fun to encounter opposition, but thanks to that, I was able to come up with several alternatives.
‘I could have thought about what would happen if this project failed…’
Do-wook thought.
But no project sets out to fail. I had to succeed.
***
It was 1 o’clock on Saturday, twelve hours after KK’s new song and music video were released.
A huge pop-up window appeared on the main screen of the portal site Friends.
≪Connection with KK! First Guerrilla Performance ≫
Minguk University Auditorium 4pm
Connect with KK!
At the same time, the performance will be broadcast live through the me app.
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KK’s fan club, Key Rings, received a cell phone message with the same content an hour ago.