K-Pop Empire and its 

 
Business Strategy  
Femmy, Hanna, Naomi
IFB 2020
Introduction of Marketing
 ORIGINAL STATEMENT 

I, the undersigned below

Full Name : Femmy Floretta, Hanna Indrianingsih, Naomi Pamela Widjaja

SIN : 2020320002,​ ​2020320003, 2020320006

Concentration : International Fashion Business

Batch / Year in : 2020

Declare that my project/paper with title “K-Pop Empire and its Business Strategy” is my original

project and never been used for any other purpose or belong to others. If in the future my

project/paper proven to be not original, I am

willing to accept the consequences and give permission to ESMOD Jakarta to cancel my score.

Jakarta, 28 January 2021

Hanna Indrianingsih
Table of Contents 
ORIGINAL STATEMENT 2 

Table of Contents 3 

Introduction 4 

Brands 5 
BTS (Bangtan Boys) 5 

About the brand 5 

Marketing Mix 6 

Products 7 

Pricing 8 

Place 9 

Promotion 11 

III. SWOT Analysis 13 

IV. Target Market 14 

A1. Segmentation 1 15 

A2. Segmentation 2 18 

A3. Segmentation 3 20 

A4. Segmentation 4 22 

2. NCT 25 

III. SWOT Analysis 30 

Conclusion 33 

 
 
 I. Introduction 
For the last decade, the Hallyu Wave, or the Korean Wave has played a big role in popular 
culture. South Korea’s drama, music, fashion, and even traditional cuisine dominated the media. 
In the late 1990s where most of Asian countries in the world were having financial crises, South 
Korea successfully got out of the crisis by utilizing their human resources. The South Korean 
government created a department specifically to handle South Korean’s entertainment sector, 
undertaken by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. This shows how serious they are in 
investing in their entertainment industry. Using Hallyu Wave as a soft power, the government 
hopes to expand South Korea’s profile abroad, along with its cultural exports and tourism. 
According to IFPI Global Music Report in 2019, South Korea’s music industry revenue grow 
17.9% and recognizes the impact that the genre had on international music markets ​("IFPI Global 
Music Report 2019 - IFPI", 2019). 
The method is proven to be effective for a country with minimal natural resources. It gives a 
significant boost for exports and tourism. As of 2014, total content export of South Korea’s 
music industry amounted at USD $​5273.32​ ​million with an annual average increase of 13.4% 
from 2010-2014 (Bae et al., 2017). Not forgetting to mention nearly 800,000 and 1 in every 13 
foreign tourists visited South Korea for the sole reason of BTS, a K-Pop boy band rose to fame 
in 2015, making them the most known boyband of the third generation of K-Pop. It is estimated 
that BTS is responsible for 7.6 percent of the total of foreign tourists visiting South Korea, the 
economic effect will likely far exceed the estimated 1.5 billion dollars profit they created for the 
tourism industry ("Economic Effect of BTS’ Conquest of Billboard Hot 100 Chart", 2020).  
The purpose of this paper is to compare South Korea’s most influential boyband, BTS, to its 
competitors in the same market that gained almost the same international success, NCT. While 
BTS is scouted by a fairly new agency, Big Hit Entertainment, NCT was trained in one of the 
biggest and oldest South Korean entertainment company SM Entertainment. These groups 
engage in a noteworthy marketing strategies, the strategies will be analyzed and compared to 
find out why BTS still has more influence than other K-Pop groups. 
 The goal is to collect information on how they market themselves as an idol and how they 
market their products (albums and merchandises), their target market and segmenting the 
business. Method used in this paper will be both primary data and secondary data analysis. 
Primary data was retrieved from a survey done online through 48 respondents aged 15-25, 37.5% 
(18 out of 48 respondents) are casual listeners of idols mentioned above. While 16.7% (8 out of 
48 respondents) are ARMYs, or BTS’s fanbase, 12.5% (6 out of 48 respondents) are NCTZENS 
or NCT’s fanbase, and 8.3% are Blinks, or Blackpink’s fanbase. The rest of the respondents 
(25%) are either fans of other groups or they don’t know them/not a fan of them (12.5%). The 
surveys will be used in marketing mix and Chapter III : Analysis comparison. The analysis will 
be heavily put on BTS. In Chapter IV, conclusion will be discussed. 
 

II. Brands
1. BTS (Bangtan Boys) 

 
Figure 1. BTS members - V, Jin, Jungkook, RM, Jimin, Suga, J-Hope 
Source : h​ ttps://ibighit.com/bts/eng/profile/ 
 
 
I. About the brand 
Bangtan Sonyeondan or best known as BTS ​which when translated into English
means “Bulletproof Boy Scouts” ("50 Awesome Facts About BTS That You Should
Know | The Fact Site", 2021). This K-Pop group has 7 member which are Kim Seok-jin
(stage name Jin) as the oldest and the vocalist of the group, Min Yoon-gi (Suga) the
second oldest and lead rapper, Jung Ho-seok (J-Hope) is the third oldest member, Lead
Rapper and Main Dancer, Kim Nam-joon (RM) Leader as the Main Rapper, Park Ji-min
(Jimin) the Lead Vocalist and Main Dancer, Kim Tae-hyung (V) the second youngest and
the vocalist, and last but not least Jeon Jung-kook (Jungkook) the youngest member in
the group with the most positions, main Vocalist, Lead Dancer, Sub Rapper, Center/Face
of the group (Grauso, 2021).
BTS debuted by Big Hit Entertainment’s, Bang Si-hyuk to the world in 2013 with
their first album ​2 Cool 4 Skool​ and lead single “No More Dream” (Bruner, 2021). On
October 12, 2016 they released their 2nd full-length album and reached No. 6 on the
billboard 200. With this album as well, it was their first time doing concerts to various
continents. September 18, 2017 Love Yourself: Her was released and hit No.7 in
billboard 200 albums and it is the only K-pop album to have broken into the top 10. In
less than 12 months BTS released another new album called Map of the Soul: Pesona
which makes their third no 1. Album on the US ​Billboard 200 chart​. BTS is the first
group to score three No. 1 albums in less than a year since The Beatles ("BTS Just Broke
The Beatles' Iconic Billboard Chart Record!", 2021). Recently they had released their
new album Map Of The Soul: 7 making it the fastest-selling release of the year ​(McIntyre,
2021)​. The group has continued to break records ever since. BTS teamed up with
UNICEF at the end of 2017 to begin a global initiative against child and teens violence.

II. Marketing Mix 

Marketing mix is a concept that is used to describe the decisions being made when 
producing or selling a product or service. Widely known as 4P’s, it was first communicated by 
EJ McCarthy and has been a vital part of marketing planning and activities. 
BTS does their marketing mostly through online social media platforms. In 2007 when 
Big Hit Entertainment almost went into bankruptcy, they almost couldn’t book show slots in 
music showcases, a common platform for newly debuted K-Pop idols to promote their new 
music into the world. So, BTS were given full access and control in their social media accounts, 
such as Twitter and Instagram. Through social media, they made themselves visible and 
available. 

a. Products 

Products  are  the  item  being  sold,  it  can be both tangible and intangible. BTS is the main 

product  themselves,  but  the  focus  will  be  on  the  albums,  official merchandise and concert tours. 
Said products will be from the most recent ones from 2019-2020. 
Albums  and  merchandises  have  always  been  a  part  of  K-Pop  fandom’s  culture,  it  is  a 
way  to  show  the  idol  support  and  love.  K-Pop  albums  in  general  consist  of  a  CD,  photocard  of 
one  or  more  members,  a  photobook  of  photos of each member and the group, and a poster of the 
group.  They  also  come  in  different  versions  and  packages,  making  it  possible  for fans to collect 
all  versions  or  simply  choose  which  collection  they  like  with  their  favorite  member  in  it. 
Merchandises varies from accessories to perfumes and differ from idol to idol. As a merchandise, 
lightsticks  remain  as  a  must-have  for  fans  of  K-Pop  worldwide.  They  are  used  to  create  “the 
ocean”,  glimmering  lights  used  to  engulf  the  entire  stadium  to  show  the  idols  that  the  fans  are 
supporting  and  watching.  Lightsticks  come  in  different  colors  and  designs,  depending  on  the 
idol.  It  doesn’t  come  at  a  cheap  price,  considering  idols  are  also  involved  in  the  making  of  the 
design.  
  
BTS’s  2019  single  album  “Map  of  the  Soul  :  Persona”  with  the  title  track  “Boy  with 
Luv”  featuring  American  singer  Halsey,  was  pre-ordered  at  3 million copies worldwide and was 
sold  at  4  million  copies  worldwide.  The  Mini  Album  version  itself  has  4 versions with different 
hues  of  pink.  Each  version  contains different photobooks, photocards, and posters. In 2020, BTS 
has  sold    4,265,617  copies  in  South  Korea  for  their  album  ​Map  of  the  Soul:  7  ​("BTS  smash 
record for best-selling album in South Korea with Map of the Soul: 7", 2020). 
With  different  versions,  it  can  boost  up  sells  and  popularity  rank  in  the  music  charts 
(Gaon  Chart  and  Hanteo  Music  Chart).  Every  album  sold  and  bought  from  Weverse  and  other 
official  reseller  site  will  automatically  count  in  the  charts.  Other  than  popularity,  different 
versions  of  albums  are  profitable  for  fans  who  likes  to  collect  different  versions  of  albums 
photocards.  Usually,  fans  only  bought  them  for  display  and  photocards,  rather  than  actually 
hearing it.  

b. Pricing 

BTS not only has an official store to sell their merch. But there are also other multiple 
store platforms that support BTS for them to sell as well. Their official online store is Weverse, 
where they sell other Kpop group’s merchandise. The official stores tend to always be expensive 
because the K-pop companies purposely did that, all because they knew that BTS fans will buy 
the merch regardless whether they’re expensive or not, and because of how much they love the 
K-pop group. There are several other online retail stores that sells BTS’s marchandise/products 
whether it be official or unofficial. Those stores include; Tokopedia, Amazon, a BTS US Store 
that only sells most of BTS’s Dynamite songs. One of the reasons why K-Pop companies sell 
merch is to bring more awareness to the brand and to obtain more money. The table below shows 
the price ranges of different types of products sold in various stores. 

Product Type Price Range

Plushie  IDR 449.000 

BTS - Do it Yourself  IDR 454.000 

paintings 

BE Deluxe Edition  IDR 714.000 

Dynamite  $1.29-$8.98 

Map of the Soul:7  IDR 330.000 

c. Place 

Place  more  refers  to  where  the  product  or  the  brand  are  being  distributed  or  being  sold 
through  the  society.  Places  are  divided  into  2  parts  online  and  offline.  It  could  refer  to  a 
physical place or e-commerce as well.  
In  June  2019,  BigHit  Entertainment  created  and  launched  2  platforms  as  their  official 
application called as weverse and weply. Weverse app is an application to simply help people 
from  around  the  world especially for armys to connect with each other easier while weplay is 
their  official  merchandise  store  for  people  to  get  their  official  merchandise,  exclusive  items 
and  content ("Weverse Shop - All For ARMY", 2021). In March 2020, Weplay changed their 
name  to  Weverse  Shop.  Most  people  prefer  to  buy  products  from  official  stores  rather  than 
resellers or other platforms since it’s definitely original. 
As  their  marketing  strategy,  sometimes  Weverse  shop  released special edition albums with a 
limited  number  which  is  only  sold  by  Weverse  itself.  Since  Weverse  is  their  official 
application that means all of the profits belong to BigHit Entertainment.  
How BTS Won Over the World 
BTS  has  a  different  way  before  releasing  a  song  or  album.  The  songs  that are released 
are  written  by  the  members  itself,  but  they  are  still  accompanied  and  assisted by their music 
producer. Therefore, the songs that BTS releases are very popular among teenaagers out
there because of their ​ability to create the lyrics to be relatable to the private lives of the
army. BTS started to be known globally on ​their second album, ​Wings​. Not like many other
boy bands in Korea who focus just on their popularity, instead of focusing on television
appearances for just fans based in Korea, BTS used social media and relied on their global
fans all over the world added with their unique dance ​("Why  Is  BTS  So  Successful  In 
America? Finally Explained", 2021)​.
BTS keep posting new content on their social media in many different platforms
including YouTube, Vlive, Weverse and many others. ​An  ethnomusicologist  and  doctoral 
student  at  University  of  California,  Stephanie  Choi,  who  specializes in the global circulation 
of  K-Pop,  stated  that  technology  plays  a  big  part  behind  BTS’s  worldwide  success.  The 
internet has changed the media flow from unidirectional to multidirectional between the West 
and  non-West,  the  influence  of  US  mainstream  media  has  spread  especially  after  the  rise  of 
social  media,  BTS  was  able  to  build  a  loyal  and  massive  fanbase  after  their  music  videos 
went  viral  on  video-sharing  platform,  YouTube  ​("BTS  pave  way  for  K-pop  golden  age  in 
US, doing what Psy couldn’t", 2018) 
In  2017,  BTS  started  a  collaborative  project  with  LINE  FRIENDS.  BT21  is  the  first 
project  of  LINE  FRIENDS  CREATORS.  LINE  FRIENDS  revealed  ​a  total  of  eight  new 
BT21  characters  where  each  of  them  have  different  characters  including  personality,  values 
and  taste.  It  was  created  by  the  me​mber  itself  with  the  help  of  line  team  designers.  Every 
character  has  their  own  storyback.  LINE  FRIENDS'  philosophies;  Global,  Millennial  and 
Trend,  which  led  them  to  finally  decide  to  collaborate  with  BTS.  BTS  is  very  popular  and 
influential  in  the  world,  and  they  are  modern  storytellers  of  our  time  who  can  share  the  'IP 
growth'  story  ​("BT21",  2021)​.  Just 10 days after being published on September 26, they have 
 rapidly  gone  viral,  more  than  8  million  downloads  and  71  million  Twitter  exposures  have 
already  been  registered  by  the  characters  they  also  gaining  420,000  users  on  BT21's  official 
social  media  platforms  including  Instagram,  and  YouTube  and  exceeding  over  71  million 
exposures  on  Twitter  ​(FRIENDS,  2021)  ​.  People  can  get  those  merch  in  both  online  and 
offline  stores.  Not  all  offline  stores  of  Line  Friends  sell  BT21  products,  there  are  some who 
sell  them  in Seoul, New York, Japan and Shanghai ​("BT21", 2021)​. While online stores there 
are  several  websites  that  people  can visit especially BT21.com and later several online stores 
in many different countries will appear in it.  
 
 
Offline  Indirect: 
Variety shows 
Live performances 
 
 
Direct:  
Concert  
Music Video 
 
 

Online   Indirect:  
Vlive 
 
Direct:  
Several social media platform (official 
account) 
Virtual concert  
Concert 
 
 
Merchandise 
 
Offline  Indirect: 
Line store 
 
Direct:  
Pop up store 
  

Online  Indirect: 
Amazon.com  
Yesasia.com  
Btsmerchshop.com 
Allkpoper.com  
Line store 
 
Direct: 
Weverse 
 

d. Promotion 

Promotions refers to the activities to show the product to be recognized to the consumers.
These activities can include advertising, public relation, sales promotion, direct marketing, etc.
BTS has often become the center of attention on most social media accounts. Thus, social
media is one of the platforms most used by BTS to promote their activities and albums
including music videos, merchs, and any other products. BTS has several official social media
accounts and each of their social media accounts has a large number of followers such as
Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Weverse, Weibo, Facebook, Fancafe, Tiktok and their official
website. The BTS Official Twitter account is ​@bts_bighit ​and has over 26,9 million followers
and the other account is @BTS_Twt it is mostly for the members to communicate with their
fans directly and has over 32,4 million followers which makes them one of the most influential
accounts. BTS official Instagram account with 36,6M followers, BANGTANTV has over 44M
Subscribers with hundreds of millions of views. They often do live stream broadcasts on a
korean video/website called Vlive. BTS often appear in any variety shows from Korea or even
the U.S. They have also started their own online variety shows, Run BTS and Bon Voyage
("BTS: Successful social media strategy of the legendary K-POP group", 2021)​.
How BTS Uses Customer Engagement as Promotion Strategy
Because BTS is given full control of their social media, this allows them to communicate and
engage freely with their fans. This is called customer engagement. When engaging with the
customers, or in this case the fans, BTS draws them closer into their life and business. Fans love
 this kind of tactic as it gives a relatable feeling to their idols, that their idols are just as real and
imperfect as the fans. According to research, 80% of customers say they are likely to do a
business with a company if it offers personalized experiences (Epsilon, 2018). If BTS continues
to offer customer experience like this, they surely would strengthen and widen the fanbase.
All the talking and communication to fans that BTS do can also count as a customer service.
According to Microsoft’s 2017 State of Global Customer Service Report, 96% of customers
say customer service is important in their choice of loyalty to a brand.
Glocalization
Glocalization is a merge created from globalization and localization, modifying or creating a
product that is targeted on both local and global consumers, companies adopt marketing
measures that fit local consumer tastes while pursuing a global marketing standard (Korean
Times, 2013).
The way that BTS does it is collaborating with US artists such as Steve Aoki, Nicki Minaj,
and Lauv. BTS already entered the US market, but collaborating with artists that has long been
a player in the US mainstream music market helps to enchance BTS’s persona without
removing their Korean roots. “Mic Drop” by BTS and Steve Aoki became a hit in October 2019
and sat on the Billboards world digital chart for 2 whole years ​(Forbes, 2019)​.
 

Online Promotion Offline Promotion

Teaser videos campaign

Music samples Variety shows

Social media

Streaming

Youtube ads

III. SWOT Analysis 

a. Strengths
BTS ever since the day they debuted in 2013 until the year 2021, BTS has a very stable fan base
where their company, Big Hit Entertainment, ensures budget stability so that BTS can do
large-scale programs to bring awareness to their brand over the years. Big Hit Entertainment is
also famous for partnering with other agencies to increase the number and spread BTS’s products
as well as owning multiple subsidiaries; Source Music, Pledis Entertainment, Belift Lab, as well
as KOZ Entertainment. Their love and passion for music is enough to move and gather the
numerous fans over the years, because of how successful and influential they are over the
musical industry. ARMY has a lot of buying power so regardless of how high the prices are on
BTS’s official stores, they would buy it, because of how much they love the BTS bands. Even
though BTS’s members have different personalities they each have their own strengths;
according to the cheatsheet.com; Jin and Suga, even though they are very introverted, they also
tend to have a lot of thoughts going around inside their heads making them creative as well as
imaginative. J-Hope is the outgoing type, he is very easy to approach, and can also be influenced
with the energetic energy from other people. Rap Mon and V are good communicators, with the
addition of Rap Mon being able to speak fluent English, he is able to connect with multiple
people as well as being able to connect different ideas together, compared to the rest of the
group. Jimin is quite similar to RM (Rap Mon) and V, although he is able to connect with people
on an emotional level compared to the both of them. Jungkook is the youngest among the BTS
members and is known to be sky and extremely quiet compared to the other members, though he
is also known to be kind and warm.
b. Weaknesses
Even if BTS were popular with an increasing fan base, there are bound to be some anti-fans
attempting to slander and tarnish the BTS brand. There will always be some small sources/causes
of conflict that were usually started by anti-fans or by fans of other kpop groups just for pure
toxicity.
c. Opportunities
There are multiple opportunities where BTS can spread more of their brand awareness. THe
things that non-ARMY’s don’t usually buy, with the help and use of the BTS brand, ARMY is
more than willing to spend money in order to just buy some of their merch and see them at
concerts. BTS has many good and friendly connections to famous celebrities; like Jimmy Fallon,
and other famous artists.
 d. Threats
In every K-pop group there will always be a time where anti-ARMY hating on a certain K-Pop
group, just out of pure spite, or because they have nothing to do.

IV. Target Market 

Not like any other K-Pop idols who aim for the South East Asian market or the East Asian
market, BTS directly targets the US market. ​A professor at the Research Institute of Korean 
Studies at Korea University and director of general affairs at the World Association of Hallyu 
Studies said that what BTS did was a repeat of history of what the Beatles did. The rock genre 
initially began in the US, and the Beatles replicated it and dominated the American market in 
the 1960s. Hip-hop is a genre that started and is popular in the US, BTS incorporated hip-hop in 
their songs and made the golden age of K-Pop in the US that the other ancestors failed to make 
("BTS pave way for K-pop golden age in US, doing what Psy couldn’t", 2018)​.  
Other than the successful input of the genre, there are 3 (three) pillars of what made BTS 
famous in the US. Those are : urgency, originality and credibility ​(NBC News, 2019).  
This resulted in ​appearances and exposures on US talk shows such as The Late Late Show
with James Corden, TheEllen DeGeneres Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live and other US television
show appearances for the month ahead of their performance at the American Music Awards
(AMAs). In November 19,2017 BTS performs DNA in AMAs marking their US TV
performance debut ​("A timeline of BTS: how the K-pop superstars took over the world", 2021)​.  

A1. Segmentation 1 

 
 Figure 2. Bryana Salaz - Contestant in Jubilee 
Source : h​ ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU0gI-jccbI  
Figure 3. Bryana Salaz 
Source : h​ ttps://www.instagram.com/bryanasalaz/ 
 
This​ ​is Bryana Salaz. She was featured in Jubilee, a YouTube channel whose contents 
consists of guessing games with money prize. The game Bryana was in was “Odd Man Out : 6 
BTS Fans and 1 Secret Hater”. She is an ARMY. Bryana is a 23 years old singer and an actress. 
She lives in California ​("Bryana Salaz - IMDb", 2019)​.  
Bryana fits the main target customer of BTS. She is a Gen-Z, which makes her familiar and 
is active on social media. Her purchases are clothes and accessories ranges from the price 
$25-$400. She buys items that defines her values, 55% of Millenials and Gen-Z prefers stores 
that matches their values and priorities in life, it can be in the form of charitable donations, 
focus on human rights and LGBT rights, or sustainable practices ​("Millennials, Gen Z, 
Boomers, and Beyond: How Each Generation Shops Differently - Salesforce Blog", 2018). Her 
surroundings also influences her to BTS, in the Jubilee video, she said that she and her best 
friend has matching tattoos of their bias (favorite member) on their ankle. The driving effect 
among fans is really strong. For example, if one fan has bought a certain idol-related product 
and share his/her enjoyment and other feelings on the common social platforms, other fans may 
also be influenced to have desire for purchasing it. Bryana came out as a lesbian and according 
to her Instagram page, she participated in BLM protest and LGBTQ+ rights, and Bryana does 
battle with anxiety. Her activities influences her purchases.  
Empathy Map 
Her urgency to find a reliable media that relates to her struggle (human rights and mental 
health) is met through BTS’s music and activities. 
BTS talks a lot about depression and mental health in their songs, promotes self-love and 
realness to their fans, which makes the fans feel emotionally connected to BTS. According to 
Harvard Business Review, customers who are fully and emotionally connected to the brand are 
52% more valuable than customers who are just highly satisfied, those who are fully connected 
can have three times of the highest return, the financial impact of building emotional connection 
to customer accounted for 37% of revenue and spends twice as much ($400) annually on the 
brand’s products ("The New Science of Customer Emotions", 2015). By connecting with fans 
through songs and contents emotionally, BTS would likely to hit their target customers 
effectively.
a. Demographic Analysis

Demographic Target Customers

Gender Female

Age Group 15-24 years old

Race Asian-American, Latinx-American,

African-American

Marital status Not married

Occupation High school students, college students,

freelance graphic designer/illustrator, start-up
worker

Disposable income 400$ per month (Rp.5.000.000)

Residency United States (California, New York, New

Jersey)

Education Private middle/high school, Ivy League

college, private college

b. Psychographic Analysis

Psychographic Target Customers

Social class Bottom-upper class

Personality Belongers, Achievers

Shopping habit Fashion flourishers ​("The New Science of 

Customer Emotions", 2015)

Interests K-Pop, fashion, online shopping, charity,

human rights, mental health, LGBT
community

Values Friendships, loyalty, equality

 Fashion flourishers are a group of customers who are predominantly female, younger and
ethnically diverse, who buys clothes and apparels because it connects to their deep desire of
self-expression and social acceptance. They are digitally-engaged, 2.3 times as likely to research
a fashion retailer online and 2.9 times more likely to shop through their mobile devices, less
price sensitive and has a high lifetime value; spending average of $468 a year ​("The New 
Science of Customer Emotions", 2015). This is proved by the Prada jacket worn by Jungkook in 
a Vogue Japan photoshoot. It was sold out in 25 countries within a day, this includes the US, 
Japan, and Switzerland (KIEW, 2020). The jacket was priced at US$2820 or Rp.39.667.530. 
Fans seek an emotional connection and to feel closer through the same item they have in 
common. This purchasing behaviour is emotion-based. Kevin Thomson, a Britain marketing 
specialist defined this as “emotional capital”. Companies stimulate consumer’s emotional 
reaction by using their emotional capital (for example : sponsored photoshoots, sponsored airport 
looks), then consumer would have the desire and motivation to consume, and turn their ideas to 
fulfill and satisfy their emotional needs (Zhuang, 2018). 
BTS would likely to appeal to people of color in the United States, as they are people of
color themselves. California is the most diverse state in the US, and also the state with the
biggest population of Korean-Americans ​(Clarke, 2020; "Census Demographics and 
Citizenship", 2015)​. People of color still counts as minorities in the US, they make up nearly 
40% of the US population. Seeing people with the same skin color and physique characteristics 
on screen can have an encouraging effect, raising the self-esteem. 
 A2. Segmentation 2 

Figure 4. Nan Paturzo ( left) - Founder of Bangtan Moms and 

Noonas   
Source : h​ ttps://www.instagram.com/bangtan_nan/?hl=en 
Figure 5. Heather Kay (right) - Member of Bangtan Moms and Noonas 
Source : h​ ttps://www.instagram.com/etuitui/ 
 
 
Nan Paturzo is an American living in California. She is 57 years old and an ARMY. She  
is the founder of Bangtan Moms and Noonas, an ARMY fanbase for fans aged 25 to 60s.  
The  community  now  has  over  500  members  all  across  the  internet,  ranging  from  Canada  to 
Indonesia. Paturzo got into the ARMY realm through her 15 year old daughter, who is an ARMY 
too ​("BTS’s Growing Fanbase Isn’t Just Teens, It’s Their Moms", 2019)​.  
The  second  woman  is  Heather  Kay,  a  member  of  Bangtan  Moms  and  Noonas.  She  is  48  years 
old,  according  to  her  Instagram  page.  She  lives  in  California  and  owns  several  BTS’s  official 
merchandises such as plushies and lightstick. 
 
a. Demographic Analysis 

Demographic  Target Customer 

Gender  Female 

Age group  24-60 

Race  White, Asian-American- Latinx-American 

Marital status  Married 

 Occupation  Stay-at-home mom, retired corporate worker, 
teacher, lecturer, corporate worker 

Disposable income  $45,284 per year  

("OECD Better Life Index", 2018) 

Education  High school diploma-Bachelor’s degree 

Residency  California 
 
b. Psychographic analysis

Psychographic Target Customer

Social class Top-middle class to bottom-upper class

Personality Saviors, Belongers

Shopping habits Medium shopper; Fractioned ownership

Interests K-Pop, non-English music, low impact

fitness, cross stitch

Values Family, friendship, religious beliefs

BTS’s main market is the place, age is secondary. BTS’s music has a lot of influence from
hip-hop, R&B and they recently put 70’s influence on their song “Dynamite”. This appeals to
older audience as it reminds them of olden days. Also, BTS’s lyrics appeals to them because they
can understand and relate to the meaning behind the song. One of the members of Bangtan
Moms and Noonas who likes the song “Tomorrow” by written by Suga and J-Hope, said that
“​One of the​ lyrics in that song​ is like, ‘Before you know it, yesterday becomes tomorrow.’ If you 
hear that at fifteen, it’s sort of an ‘it gets better’ message, like if I just hang on, pretty soon this 
will all be over, and I can get onto the next chapter of my life” ("BTS’s Growing Fanbase Isn’t 
Just Teens, It’s Their Moms", 2019).  
Most of the older ARMYs know BTS through their Gen-Z daughters (see Segmentation 1), 
Proving that BTS is succesful in hitting their target market and is able to influence their main 
customer to persuade other market categories. But, they won’t be as gullible as the main target 
customer to buy merchandises so easily even though their disposable income is much higher than 
the main target customer. They are mostly Generation X, the generation who carries the most 
debt, an average American Generation X carries $36,000 personal debt (Releases, Us, News, 
Research & Contacts, 2021)​. ​Chantel Bonneu, a financial advisor, said that their priorities are all 
over the place, such as paying mortgage, raising children, or taking care of their aging parents 
("Americans in this generation carry the highest levels of debt", 2019). 
The merchandise that they would buy are the essentials, such as an album and a lightstick. 

A3. Segmentation 3 

a. Demographic analysis 
Demographic  Target Customer 

Gender  Female 

Age group  15-30 years old 

Race  East Asian (Japanese, Korean) 

Marital status  Not married 

Occupation  Student (middle school, high school, college), 

start-up worker, part-time worker 

Disposable income  ₩​300,000 (Korean) 

¥​28,226 (Japanese) 

Education  Private/public school & college,  

Residency  Seoul, Busan, Ilsan, Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka 

b. Psychographic analysis

Psychographic Target customer

Social class Middle class-Upper class

Personality

Shopping habits Medium shopper-heavy shopper

Interests K-Pop, fashion, cute cafes, romantic

relationships
 Values Privacy,

Of course, K-Pop is just as popular in their hometown. According to data on the popularity of
K-Pop based on YouTube videos by June 2019, the highest ratio of views per capita are from
South Korea, with each Korean viewing on average 51.5 K-Pop music videos on YouTube in
one year period ​("South Korea: per capita K-pop views on Youtube worldwide by country 2019 | 
Statista", 2019)​.  
Based on a research done on K-Pop fans aged 20-29 years old in Inha University in South
Korea, out of 260 respondents, 66.8% are students with the income rate of ​₩​300,000 
(Rp.3.776.428) or less. In the report, it is dominated by medium shopper group. They spends 
₩​100,000 (Rp.1.255.332) or more but less than ​₩​300,000 on idol merchandises annualy ​(Kim, 

Lee & Lee, 2018)​. 

K-Pop merchandises are way cheaper in South Korea, underground stores in Myeongdong 
station sells merchandises in competitive prices because there are various stores there. Cheap 
merchandises prices appeals to students who are mostly Gen-Z and still depend on their parent’s 
salary for a living, making it easier for South Korean idols to target their customers in their 
hometown. 

A4. Segmentation 4 

Figure 6. Monica Sahara 

 Source : ​https://www.instagram.com/monicasahr/ 
Figure 7. Monica with Jimin photocard 
Source : h​ ttps://www.instagram.com/monicasahr/ 
 
This  is  Monica  Sahara,  an  Indonesian  ARMY  known  from  her  fansign  meeting  with  Jimin. 
She  lives  in  Jakarta, Indonesia. She is a traveler, entrepreneur, youtuber and a fashion influencer. 
She  has  her  own  clothing  line  “Moni”  and  an  eyelash  oil serum business, she also have a K-Pop 
merchandise  store  in  Instagram  called  @kpopgoodies.id.  Monica  is  23  years  old,  making  her  a 
Gen-Z.  According  to  her  Instagram  post,  she  traveled  Europe,  Asia  and  South  Korea  to  watch 
BTS  “Love  Yourself  World  Tour  ”  concert.  Other  than  the  tour,  she  goes  to  South  Korea  to 
watch  BTS  on  awarding  shows  and  music  showcases,  but  stopped  because  of  the  coronavirus 
pandemic.  She  owns  several  merchandises  such  as  albums,  passport  cover,  Chimmy  BT21 
plushie, and a lightstick. She also owns BTS’s sponsor item, a FILA beanie (see Figure 7). 
Her  motivation  to  buy  and  travel  the  world  just  to  see  BTS  is  because  of  conspicuous 
consumption  (travel  and  concert  tickets)  and  self  treating (merchandise). This can also be driven 
by  the  need  of  esteem  and  self-actualization  according  to  five hierarchy of needs by Maslow, an 
American  psychologist.  Esteem  needs  are  driven  by  the  need  of  status,  validation,  and 
recognition, while love and belonging is driven by the desire to give love and support; to feel like 
they  belong  in  a group ​("Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - Overview, Explanation, and Examples", 
2019). 
At  this  rate  of  needs,  fans  like  Monica  doesn’t  pay  attention  to  the  price  in  order  to  fulfill 
their  needs  to  be  validated  in the ARMY community (esteem). Honestly speaking, the more they 
own  BTS’s  merchandises  and  the  more  they  watch  BTS  live,  the  higher  the  status  they  hold  in 
the  community.  Monica  also  stated in one of her Instagram story that she is a number one fan, so 
in  order  to  live  up  to her claim and to show BTS her support and love, she spent and investing in 
her time and money for BTS (love and belonging). 
 
a. Demographic Analysis 
Demographic  Target Customer 

Gender  Female 

Age group  15-24 years old 

Race  South East Asian (Indonesian, Filipino, 

Malaysian) 

Marital status  Not married 

Occupation  Student (middle/high school, college), corporate 

worker, start-up worker, freelance illustrator, 
influencer 
 Disposable income  Rp.3.000.000-Rp.10.000.000 

Education  Private/public school, private/public college 

Residency  Jakarta (Central, South), Manila, Kuala Lumpur 

b. Psychographic Analysis

Psychographic Target Customer

Social class Bottom upper class-top upper class

Shopping habits Fashion flourishers/heavy shopper

Personality

Interests K-Pop, fashion, Korean culture, luxury

brands, social media, charity, online
shopping, romantic relationship

Values Friendship, family, loyalty

Gender and K-Pop

Based on a survey conducted by a professor in Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Dr. Kun
Setyaning Astuti on the pervasiveness of K-Pop in 21st century Indonesia, on audience aged
17-24 years old, 92.3% of K-Pop fans are female. BTS fans themselves are female in majority,
taking up to 50% ranging from the age of 18-24 in 2018 but decreased down to 39% , but with
the increase in age group 24-35 from 16% to 27% ​("Does It Really Matter If A Lot Of BTS Fans 
Are 'Little Girls'?", 2020). 
 
 

2. NCT 

 
Figure 8. NCT - All 23 Members 
Source : https://hot.detik.com/kpop/d-5250551/nct-ungkap-nama-member-yang-akan-bawakan-90s-love-dan-work-it 
A) About the brand 
NCT  is  a  K-pop  group  which  was  created  by  SM  Entertainment  and  debuted  on  7  July 
2017.  NCT  stands  for  Neo  Culture  Technology.  This  k-pop  group  sounds  unique.  The 
concept  is  that  they're  a  collective  of  infinite  representatives  in  various  cities  around  the 
world  who  are  continually  shifting  into  different  sub-units  ​("A  beginner's  guide  to  NCT", 
2021)​.  
There  are  currently  four  sub-unit  groups  under NCT which are NCT U, NCT 127,  NCT 
Dream  and  WayV.  The  group  currently  has  23  members  and  consists  of  Taeyong,  Taeil, 
Johnny,  Yuta,  Kun,  Doyoung,  Ten,  Jaehyun,  WinWin,  Jungwoo,  Lucas,  Mark,  Xiaojun, 
 Hendery,  Renjun,  Jeno,  Haechan,  Jaemin,  YangYang,  Shotaro,  Sungchan,  Chenle,  and 
Jisung.  NCT  is  a  community  based  on  simplicity  and  expandability,  with  no  limitations  on 
members  of  the  group,  enabling  multiple  combinations  ​("Has  NCT’s  Concept  Been 
Effective?", 2021)​. 
In  March  2020,  after  NCT  released  their  album known ad ​Neo Zone, NCT became the 
first  K-pop  act  to  ever  perform  at  RodeoHouston.  Neo  Zone  illustrates  NCT  127  at  its 
finest,  and  displays  its  transformation  from  a  rookie  party  to  accomplished professionals 
(Murphy, 2021).  
On  November  3  2019,  NCT  became  the  first  K-pop  group  to  perform  at  the  MTV 
Europe  Music  Awards.  Shortly  after,  on  28  November  2019,  NCT  also  became  the  first 
K-pop  Group  that  performed  in  the  ​Macy’s  Thanksgiving  Day  Parade  (Murphy,  2021). 
MAMA  ​2020,  NCT  won  the  Favorite  Male  Group  and  Worldwide  Fans’  Choice  Top 10 
("How NCT Made 2020 Their Year - The Honey POP", 2021)​.  

B) Marketing mix
a. Product

The same with BTS’s products, the most essential products are albums and merchandises
such as lightstick and clothing. So far, NCT has 4 albums and a few EPs and mini albums. Their
latest album NCT 2020 Resonance Pt.1 and NCT 2020 Resonance Pt. 2 are sold in 2 different
versions of each album, consists of photocards, photobooks, posters, members’s NCT ID card,
and a CD. The difference between BTS’s album selling is that, if fans bought several albums at
once or have bought several albums in the last year, they can be the lucky winner of video call
event hosted by NCT. In 2020, their album sales peaked at 3.63 million copies as of October 18
worldwide, it is still a lot but less than BTS’s sales which exceeded at 4.2 million copies
worldwide.

b. Price
Compared to BTS’s merchandise, NCT has a variety of products in their official store in
smglobalshop.com. There the products range from albums, and clothings to daily necessities. Of
course all of these products like any other merchandise are branded with the NCT logo on them
to further promote and raise brand awareness. Although their merch ranges in variety, their
prices are relatively higher in comparison to BTS’s.

Product Type Price Range

Lightstick $50.00

Postcard Set $32.00

Photo Poster $32.00

Back to School Kit $42.00

Bag $32.00

Clothing $32.00-$100.00

Accessories $24.00-$28.00

Hat $32-$35

Album Songs $26.98

c. Place
Same as BigHit entertainment, SM Entertainment created their official application for their
groups to communicate with their fans and post the content of the groups. This application is
named as LYSN. LYSN was created in 2019 by SM Entertainment in order to keep the members
in touch with their fans. This application can be used globally. In February 2020, LYSN started
to create “Bubble”. This allowed fans to send and receive practical text-like messages for $3.49
USD per artist per month with their favorite SM Entertainment idols. February 2020, SM
Entertainment has gained ​₩4,200,000,000 KRW ($3,672,944 USD) in the single second quarter
of 2020 from LYSN ("Here's How Much Money SM Entertainment Made With The "Bubble"
Feature On Its Fan-Based App Lysn", 2021).
People can get their Official Merch in both online and offline stores. SM Global Shop is an
application where groups of SM Entertainment sell their products worldwide. SM Global Shop
sells their official merch with the best price since it was their official store. Other than SM
Global Shop, people can get their official merch through their official website
SMtownandstore.com. SM town and store also provide their offline store which is only located
in Seoul. There are 2 stores in total.

Offline Direct:
Concert 
 

Indirect:

Online Direct:

Indirect:
Vlive
Several social media platform (official 
account) 
Virtual concert  

Merchandise

Offline Direct:
SM town and store
Indirect:

Online Direct:
SM town and store
SM global shop
Shop.nct127.com
nct2020official.com

Indirect:
Amazone.com
 Merchbar.com

d. Promotion
NCT has their own web series known as NCT Life. NCT’s variety show has been started since
2016 and there are 10 seasons in total till 2020. These shows provide NCT’s daily life to be seen
by the audience. It will help to keep connected with their fans. It also appears on various
platforms and can be watched by their fans globally. Same as BTS, NCT tries to keep
interacting with its fans through several social media.

Before the releasing of their album called as NEO Zone, NCT made and posted an unique
content for a month till the releasing date of their new album. ​VHS-like teaser videos and a
‘shopping channel’ episode are some of their unique content.​The campaign goes well in several
platforms of social media including Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Tiktok, Weibo.
and any other korean platforms. NCT has their own YouTube Channel known as NCT Daily
where the members of all the units share their regular activities. NCT Dance to show dance
contents and NCT Music. They have been promoted globally to the US and appear on several
variety shows. ​ Spring 2018 NCT appeared in Korea Times Music Festival and KCON New
York​ and also promoted their Regular-Irregular album. NCT’s ​World Tour 2019 they Promoting
their other album and in ​2020 Performing at holiday concerts​. Continuously, they keep appearing
in several tv shows in the US. NCT has 3 instagram accounts with an average 5-10 Million
followers.
After every comebacks, NCT usually holds a video call event for the lucky fans who bought 
their albums. Fans can choose which members who are available at that time and have a 
one-on-one talk with their NCT bias. Even though the fans have to buy albums first, this is a 
smart strategy to boost up album sales and in addition to customer engagement. Other than video 
call events, fans can also contact NCT through Lysn Bubble, an official chatting platform for SM 
Entertainment artists to connect with their fans. Although idols cannot message the fans back, 
they can read what the fans said to them. This app, unfortunately, is not free. But, NCT members 
usually do “menpa” or “mention party” on their official Twitter account @NCTsmtown, where 
members can tweet something to their fans, and the lucky fans who replies can get a reply back. 
 Online Promotion Offline Promotion

Teaser videos Live shows

Music samples Variety shows

Social media

Spotify listening party

Teaser images

III. SWOT Analysis

NCT has a total of 23 members, and because of the huge number of members they have been
divided into 3 units namely; NCT U, NCT 127, and NCT Dream. NCT U is known as the main
unit of NCT which consists of 6 members, Taeil, Taeyong, Doyoung, Ten Jaehyun, and Mark.
These lineups are based on who fits well in the main group. NCT 127 is considered to be the
most active among the units. 127 on it’s group name stands for the longitude of the map in Seoul.
NCT Dream members consist of the youngest members of NCT namely; Mark, Renjun, Jeno,
Haechan, Jaemin, Chenle, and Jisung. The oldest member of NCT Dream is known to be 19 in
2018 at the time.
a. Strengths
Each of these units follow certain themes, NCT U is the first and main group unit to be
established in 2016 on April 9th, NCT 127 where they focus on more punk rock music as well as
focusing on expanding their area of influence, they debuted on July 7th in 2016. Following NCT
Dream where their theme focuses on innocent, bright, child friendly music, which makes sense
since their unit consists of the youngest members of NCT. This in a way is a good way for NCT
to expand their influence, because they are covering different kinds of genres. NCT U’s members
like Taeyong have the position of leader, and the main rapper. According to aminoapps.com,
Taeyong is very confident, and nice as well as caring for his other group members. The group
itself has many, members from different nationalities, some are from Japan, China, Taiwan,
Thailand, and Canada, making them seem more lovable and and interesting group.
b. Weaknesses
NCT U’s members even though they can be brave on camera, some of them are very shy when
meeting with them up close. Like Jaehyun for example, he was labeled as a “Happy Virus” as
well as being a cutie, but of his many weaknesses, he is very sensitive to what other people say
about him.
c. Opportunities
NCT aim is to expand their area of influence with the use of the 3 formed units, creating a range
of genres where each group is responsible for they can cover and their group in total can almost
capture all of the age groups with their music.
d. Threats
There are multiple scandals around NCT, much more so than BTS. In 2019, NCT U was
declared disbanded because of a sexual relations between one of the group members and the
female staff.

G) Segmentation

Figure 9. Kim with NCT 127

Source : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDR5AiDRyuM
Figure 10. Kim
Source : h​ ttps://www.instagram.com/k.miba/?hl=en

a. Demographic Analysis
Demographic Target customer

Gender Female

Age group 15-24 years old

Race Asian American

Marital status Not Married

Occupation High school students, college students,

freelance graphic designer/illustrator, start-up
worker

Disposable income $400 per month (Rp.5.000.000)

Education Private middle/high school, private college,

 public

Residency United States, Korea, China, Indonesia

b. Psychographic analysis 
c.  
Psychographic  Target customer 

Social class  Middle class-top middle class 

Personality  Fashion flourishers 

Shopping habits  Medium-heavy shopper 

Interests  K-Pop, Korean culture, Twitter, discounts, 

share-in-jars, secondhand merchandises,  

Values  Friendship, equality,  

The last segmentation is focused on NCT’s target customer. It is the same as BTS’s target
customer which are US based citizen who are Gen-Zs, with the personality of fashion flourishers.
But with the difference being, NCT not only focus on building a fanbase in the US, but also in
each of NCT’s members country origin. There are the United States, South Korea, Japan,
mainland China, Canada, and South East Asia. This strategy is almost the same as other K-Pop
groups that targets the East Asia/South East Asia market, but their distribution and media
exposure is smarter, although maybe not as big as BTS (participating in US based YouTube
channels, US based talkshows such as the Late Late Show with James Corden, etc).
So NCT target customer is more varied than BTS’s. This can benefit NCT, because if the US
market is bored with K-Pop, NCT can rely on the East Asia/South East Asia market for the long
run, rather than relying on the US fanbase entirely.

III. Conclusion 

BTS proves language is not a barrier to be influencing millions of people. Their strategy of 
building a strong and worldwide fanbase is smart and should be look up to for future K-Pop 
groups who wishes to follow the same path as they do. Originality, credibility, and urgency is the 
recipe is non-American artists wanta to be mainstream and listened by people worldwide. Not 
forgetting great customer engagement and great customer service plays to the role, such as 
interacting live with fans (video call events by NCT) and responding to fans comments and 
cheerings (Weverse for BTS and Lysn Bubble for NCT) will maintain and build stronger fanbase 
for the long run. 
There are no doubts that BTS will continue to be popular in the next 5 years, while NCT will 
have to try a little harder but eventually they will have the popularity that they wanted. 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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