Let's talk about Open Run.
The place is a bit different.
It is not in front of a department store lined with luxury stores such as Chanel and Louis Vuitton, but in front of a convenience store, an oasis for modern people.
The main character is 'Pokemon Bread', which SPC Samlip re-released after 16 years.
Since it is usually late at night for new products to arrive at convenience stores, the news is that people who want to hunt Pokemon bread every night are going out on a so-called 'expedition'.
Now, 16 years ago, in 2006, the price of a 'latte' was 500 won for a piece of bread, and now it costs 1,200 won.
The years have passed and the price of bread has more than doubled.
What hasn't changed is the memory Pokémon "Tibushil" that comes with the bread.
Some Pokemon with a low probability of winning are sold at 50,000 won each in the used market.
RM of BTS is also lost in search of Pokemon, so what is the power that revives the trend that was thought to have been dormant 16 years ago and sold out 3.5 million buns within 2 weeks of its release?
In this <Somehow>, we dealt with the economy of 'fandom' that revived dead fads.
Let's talk a little bit more about Pokemon Bread.
The name 'Tibibusil', which is at the center of the topic, is an abbreviation of 'Tibutibooseal'.
It means 'Seal that can be removed and pasted'.
According to SPC, the name was first 'developed' by the company several years ago when launching another product.
The small and medium-sized company that manufactures 'Tibu Seal' in Gyeongsangbuk-do, Gyeongsangbuk-do, which has been pushed to the brink of extinction due to Corona 19 due to the unprecedented popularity of Pokemon bread, has also been booming.
The strong point is that the sticker is made of PVC waterproof material, so it has strong adhesiveness and leaves no traces even after being peeled off.
It is said that the marketer who planned the re-release of Pokemon Bread is not open to the point of having to take a sick leave sooner or later due to a new production schedule due to a continuous shortage.
In fact, the relaunch plan didn't just come out of the marketer's head.
The release request from customers who haven't forgotten Pokemon Bread has been pouring in over the years.
The 'complaints' piled up in customer voices, the 'fan spirit' of the working marketer himself, and the trademark contract with <Pokémon>, which was completed at the right time, drove the 'jackpot'.
SPC plans to increase the number of types of bread and pokemon during the first half of the year.
There are more examples of 'fandom' that revived dead games by stimulating the nostalgia for childhood of consumers with full purchasing power.
The game <Nova 1492>, which started service by Netmarble in 2002 and attracted many users, was discontinued in 2011.
Four years later, in 2015, the development team, made up of fans who had long missed the game, set up a company and brought the game back to life.
Thanks to the support of other fans who were waiting for the news of the re-release, we achieved 10 million won in one day through tumblr funding and have been operating the game service since then.
Kevin Kelly, a management expert who co-founded the popular science and technology and culture magazine Wired, wrote an essay in 2008 stating that living in the digital marketplace requires 'a thousand sure fans', not millions of customers or millions of dollars.
These 'definite fans' are literally consumers of everything you produce.
It's a lot more realistic to get a thousand true fans who are willing to spend at least $100,000 a year on every creation of a creator than it is to get a million fans from scratch.
This makes it easier for creators to remember and retain who each of their fans is, their names and traits.
Unlike the past, where only a large distribution company could secure a path to sell creations, creators can directly communicate and transact with fans with just one click. You are more likely to respond.
Even if it is a work or idea that only one in a million people are interested in, there could be about 7,000 people like this on the planet, and these 7,000 people are fans who will 'consider' me without betraying me.
In other words, it is a lesson to keep in mind the miracle of the 'long tail' that stretches endlessly to the right in the graph that shows the relationship between fame and product diversity.
If you find the 'correct answer' of an idea that will work for many in the first place, it will become a jackpot product that brings you great wealth and fame, but it is not difficult to find it.
You have to be lucky too.
On the other hand, there is a miracle in that 'steadiness' that stretches to the right even for an ambitious product that only a few people enjoy.
Pay attention to the possibility of steady consumption and the fan spirit that longs for a re-release without forgetting it even after 16 years.
Now, more than 10 years have passed since then, and since then, the essay has been proven in various ways, such as the activation of various crowdfunding, the trend of value consumption, and the revival of the customized advertising market, and is evaluated as a textbook for 'digital marketing'.
It may seem a bit clichéd because I mention it a lot, but BTS' success can be mentioned as the most obvious example.
In the idol industry, where releasing 'hit products' targeting the indiscriminate public has become a traditional custom, the strategy of daring to 'bet' on fan service hit a jackpot.
Hive, which has grown into a leading global entertainment company by using BTS's great success as a ladder, is working hard to sharpen its previous successful strategy.
The survival program that conducted the formation process of Hive's male idol group <Nhyphen> together with Mnet in 2020 ended with a very low rating, but accumulated digital clips based on the already established worldwide fandom even before the release of the first album. It has garnered over 180 million views.
According to Hive, there are over 2.8 million subscribers to the <Nhyphen> community on Weverse, a community platform operated by its subsidiary.
Although it is not well known and it is not easy to come up with a striking hit song, a fragmented, but never underestimated, strong global fandom is supporting their star somewhere.
In terms of etymology, fandom is a compound word from fanatic, which means fan, and dom, which means 'territory'.
The word fanatic comes from the Latin word 'fanaticus' and refers to a person who volunteers in a church without asking for money.
It is also used to refer to someone who is completely immersed in a particular field or person because they passionately like it.
Enthusiastic fans produce 2-3 works of their own, and the works develop into a worldview.
This is the point where the line between creation and consumption blurs, and this is the moment marketers are enthusiastic about.
The market is already accepting fandom as everything, not just a marketing tool.
Marketing expert David Meerman Scott, in his book Fanocracy, published in 2020, expressed that creating a fandom is more important than products and services, and that fandom can be the ‘rocket fuel’ of any organization. .
The 'distance' of the importance of 'interaction' is emphasized several times in the book.
Bringing customers within 1m of a personal distance where they can communicate psychologically and physically is the best way to form emotional bonds.
Strategies such as creating an infrastructure that allows easy 'access' to idols' lives at any time, or giving them many opportunities to show their special fandom.
Xiaomi's 'The Continent's Mistake' has made its company slogan 'Only for Fans!'
We provide opportunities for fans to directly participate in product planning, development and programs, and actively encourage communication between users in the community.
Fans who love them take pride in not only product consumption, but also publicity and brand marketing.
The powerful 'fandom' economy that neutralizes the numerous indicators that limit companies and brands with numbers at once has become a 'secret secret everyone knows'.
■ References
Heonyul Lee and Hyemin Ji, <A Study on the Classification of Fandoms – Focusing on Twitter and Fan Producers>, 2015.
Sooah Kim, <Changes in Fandom Culture in the Age of Social Web>, 2014. Jong-
yoon Kim and Eunbi Kim, <Fandom Activities” A Study on Effect Size Comparison by Type: Based on Meta-Analysis>, 2020.
David Meerman Scott, <Panocracy>, 2020.
** We look forward to your reports on 'these days' that are difficult to understand.
<Somehow> We will do our best to solve the news in a fun way.
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