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Netflix & BinJin

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Have you been hit by the Hallyu wave yet?  What's Hallyu you ask?  It's a chinese term for Korean Wave. I’m a bit late to the scene, but let me tell you how I recently got caught up in it.  

I knew about K-pop a while ago because of my daughter.  She loves BTS and BlackPink.  I even watched the award-winning movie, Parasite. It was great. But Korean Dramas….?  I’m Pakistani and grew up watching a ton of Pakistani dramas because they are amazing.  Not to mention the very entertaining Indian movies. Then there’s the apocoflix movies I love so much, and most of all...star trek, star wars, really.. sci-fi anything. I had plenty to watch. Honestly, I didn’t think K-dramas would ever interest me.

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At my previous job, two cubicles over, three colleagues of mine would get together every day for lunchtime and watch something on one of their phones.  At first I didn’t know what they were watching, but out of curiosity I asked one day.  I learned that they love catching up on their K-dramas together.  How cute! What a great way to bond and create memories.

In the past year, I’ve lost count of people telling me about K-dramas. My osteopath, the cleaning lady, a few of my friends, all telling me…. you gotta watch the K-dramas. And then, some of them started popping up on my Netflix.  Ok, now I was getting really curious. So the next time I visited my osteopath, I asked her which dramas she would recommend.  She raved about a few and gave me the list. I came home, searched them on Netflix and decided to pick one based on the description.  Crash Landing on You…. sounded good to me. I thought this will be a nice easy watch.  I HAD NO IDEA what I was getting into. I was GLUED  …. like seriously, addicted. I stopped sleeping, stopped feeding my kids.  Just kidding… I told them where the food is and how to microwave it (lol).

But seriously, it was a while before I came up for air. I get it now. Why everyone is going on and on about K-dramas. I watched one and I was obsessed.  Mainly because of the dreamy Hyun Bin. Argh, I had the blues after the drama ended, so I started looking up all kinds of info on the RiRi couple (the term put together by adding the two main characters names) and found the real life BinJin romance for them.  What a roller-coaster of emotions.

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It got me thinking, why did this hit me so hard and why are K-dramas so popular with everyone? I found an article by Valerie Fischer called: What Marketers Can Learn from Korean TV Dramas.  

In the article Valerie shares how our brains react to Korean drama, why they are so popular and what we can learn about marketing. She talks about NLP techniques (Neuro Linguistic Programming) that might explain the K phenomenon.  Neuro Linguistic Programming studies the way our thoughts affect our behaviour. It looks at the ways our brains interpret the signals they receive and how these interpretations affect what we do. It is a powerful way to change mindsets.  Here is a summary of the 3 NLP techniques listed in the article:

1. Our Brains and attention – the non-korean speaking audience is forced to read subtitles, which makes them focus more on the story, filter out all other distractions, and give their full attention to the drama.  
It can be useful for digital marketing… for e.g. by putting subtitles in video ads, it can help grab attention and the audience can be led inside the brand’s message. 

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2. Neuro Linguistic Programming Timelines – the way a person organizes the concept of time is a visual linear experience. K-dramas are great at creating timelines showing struggles in a flashback and possibilities in visions of future. Marketers need to know their customers’ pain points and what made them suffer in the past and then use their product to lay out the future possibilities and solutions.

3. VAKOG or representational modalities – When it comes to experience, Korean dramas have it all – visual, auditory, kinesthetic, olfactory and gustatory. Korean dramas appeal to all modalities.  The same way marketing can use to sell to the 5 senses and make advertising look, sound, feel, smell and taste good.  

I learned a lot about the science behind binge-watching and how our biggest commodities – time and attention can be programmed and marketed to.  This sure can be useful in event marketing and I can't wait to try out some of the techniques.

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Check out the article and tell me if it resonated with you. I’m onto my next Hyun Bin binge – Memories of the Alhambra y’all.  Catch you on the next wave.


Comments

  1. AnonymousNovember 11, 2023 at 8:58 AM

    This was so interesting! I am definitely guilty of binge watching many television shows, but I have yet to make it onto the K-dramas. I never considered the benefits of watching media in a different language besides potentially learning that language, but this was so eye opening. It makes complete sense that a focus on clear communication and branding can aid to attentiveness from consumers and allow for a better return on investment. Putting it in the context of subtitles allowed me to see this though a completely new lens! As someone who can usually be found with the subtitles on it made me question why exactly I do that and if it gives me a greater appreciation for the show. I’m for sure going to be more aware of this moving forward, might just have to try a K-drama and test it out!

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