00:00Dayeon Kim is a marketing expert and a senior lecturer at the National University of Singapore.
00:05I asked her whether Asian culture was having a global moment.
00:09I say it's actually more than a moment because there is this fundamental shift.
00:16Countries like South Korea and China have been investing in their creative industry for decades.
00:22Also, for decades back in the days, the dominant logic was that culture used to flow from West to East,
00:30the Hollywood films or the American pop music.
00:34But what La Bubu and BTS represent now is the reversal of it.
00:39We're showing that La Bubu is probably a Chinese-born character, BTS Korean, and the world is not just accepting
00:47it, they're seeking out for it.
00:50So it is showing that Asia has moved from being just a cultural consumer back in the days, but more
00:58towards the cultural creator and exporter.
01:01Pop Mart, of course, is taking La Bubu into film now in association with Sony Pictures.
01:07Is the big screen still the ultimate sign that a brand has arrived?
01:13I would say so because films, the movies, still remains to us as a uniquely powerful media for one reason,
01:23because it allows us to share that emotional experience at scale.
01:29Think about the toys.
01:31Toys, when it's produced in a certain city, it's an object.
01:35It will be consumed in the city and remains there.
01:37But film gives the object a world, the voice, and the emotional journey.
01:43And once the movie opens, more than 50 countries, everybody can feel it simultaneously.
01:51Movie industry is not just for the entertainment.
01:54It gives the fans to care more deeply so that they can connect better.
02:00Let's talk a little bit more about the rise of Asian music globally.
02:04I mean, BTS, absolutely in the news now.
02:07They've all come back from their army service and they've launched a new album.
02:12Talk to me a little bit about what are the seeds of their success, the model of their success,
02:18and that revenue stream it's created.
02:22Well, we all love BTS because they don't just sell music.
02:27They're awesome, right?
02:28Because they export this feeling, the emotional authenticity.
02:32Young people everywhere around the world, they got sold not by just the music itself,
02:40but by the feeling and the career as a concept itself.
02:45So it's creating this halo effect.
02:47In marketing, we call this a halo effect where all these positive associations with one brand
02:52spills over to different industries and categories.
02:56So it became a halo for the entire national brand.
03:01So fans who love BTS, loves everything about Korean food, Korean language, skin care, and travel.
03:08So it's becoming this powerful economic driver of South Korea.
03:13So once you love something, you want to know everything possible about it.
03:17That makes so much sense.
03:18You speak as well to connection and authenticity.
03:22So let's talk a little bit about what's happening with Chinese music streaming,
03:27because Tencent Music is doing something really interesting with Super VIP Premium.
03:32It allows fans to get a closer connection to their idols.
03:37It also offers better audio quality, and you can pay for access to tickets, etc., etc.
03:43It's proving a really successful model.
03:47Is that something that could be setting the standard for streaming globally?
03:52It is a really smart model, because it's really understanding something about the fundamental mindset about the fans.
03:59I mean, it won't work like that if there is no such passionate fan communities or fan base.
04:08What exactly made it work is that strong content and the fan base that could work on any platform.
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