UNS — BTS Meal, a collaborative menu between US fast-food restaurants and Korean Boyband, attracted great enthusiasm in the community, especially from the group’s fans, ARMY. The meal released on Wednesday (9/6/2021) made the number of drive-thru service orders soar and prompted closure by the security forces due to the large crowd. This hype received attention from Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta advertising expert, Monika Sri Yuliarti, S.Sos., M.Si.
To uns.ac.id team, Monika mentioned that this craze is not surprising because ARMY, the group’s fanbase, is the largest fanbase in Asia. Faculty Member of Communication Science Program Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) UNS considered the advertising strategy implemented from the restaurant focuses on digital advertising. She mentioned that the advertising was delivered through the YouTube and Instagram channels as video and printed advertisements, even though there is no special message.
“In the photo upload, there is no specific copy (narration and uploads). A similar case happened in the caption that did not use punchlines (grabbing netizen’s interest),” Monika said on Thursday (10/6/2021). She added that another upload on Instagram was only a five-second video with the “Get the BTS Meal at M****” narration mentioned by one of the boyband members. she considers this narration is not specific and thoroughly designed to match the campaign. “In other YouTube uploads, this campaign has a longer version with around 30 seconds duration. Each BTS member mentioned the food and beverage items contained in BTS Meal,” she added.
According to Monika, the YouTube advertisement is a sell or factual message as each boyband member describes the specification of the items in the package. Regarding the role of advertisement success in BTS Meal sales, the Advertising, Public Relations, Radio, Media, and Gender teacher explained that it should be assessed from its communication and marketing objectives. When these requirements were met, it can be considered a success. She also mentioned that this collaboration aims to push sales amid the pandemic. Therefore, it is likely that the campaign was a success.
Fanatism and BTS Meal Purchase
Monika explained that the craze is likely viewed as an overaction by those who are not K-Pop fanatics. However, besides ARMY fanatism, the new bundling has successfully combined informational and emotional appeal in its marketing strategy. The informational approach was used because the members explained the items in the bundle, and an emotional approach was used as the Boyband created a psychological impact on consumers, especially ARMY.
She added that there is no unique strategy needed to address the fanbase. As fans usually don’t think about what they will get, the tagline, and the package they will buy. “If their favorite celeb appears, they will move forward, even willing to wait until 2-4 hours to get the package,” Monika said. Monika also discussed the reselling of BTS Meal used packaging in online stores. The uns.ac.id team observed that the price for each used packaging could reach hundreds of thousands of rupiah. This phenomenon is extraordinary, according to Monika. But she could not separate it from ARMY fanatism, who took a significant role in the success of the BTS Meal campaign.
“If we talk about whether this is normal, for a campaign without influencers or celebrities, this is not normal to have such impact on the community. But once it is related to fandom, this is very normal,” she concluded. Humas UNS
Reporter: Yefta Christopherus AS
Editor: Dwi Hastuti