K-pop star’s birthday celebrated on 16,508 LED screens

The 25th birthday of pop star Jungkook is being commemorated on 16,508 LED screens across South Korea’s subway network.

The initiative – which has been organised by the singer’s Chinese fan club, Jungkook China – is said to be the biggest-ever marketing campaign on a subway. The screens will be showcasing the K-Pop star from 29 August-15 September.

Fans of K-Pop are increasingly eschewing social media and reaching out to their idols via digital out-of-home (DOOH) ads, according to a report by Movia.

A few years ago, a group of Korean music enthusiasts funded a digital billboard series in Times Square, New York, promoting their favourite bands and artists. From a handful of sporadic ads, it quickly became a full-scale phenomenon with fans from all over the world investing in some of the world’s most expensive ad space – in Times Square, a prime-time, 15-second per hour billboard spot costs about $30,000 for a week.

Fans of K-Pop girl group MAMAMOO also used Times Square as their platform for creating a DOOH campaign. The display chosen by Chinese fan group Fanmaum, measured 430 sq m and was located on Broadway – a spot usually reserved for Good Morning America, The Ellen Show and ESPN.

The biggest DOOH campaigns promoting K-Pop stars, however, have taken place in South Korea. In 2018, KITA and Gangnam District wanted to develop K-Pop Square in Seoul. So they created a digital billboard four times the size of a basketball court.

The SMTown Media Facade comprises several curved screens and is installed on the outer walls of the SMTown Coex Atrium. At 80m in length and 29n high, it is the largest high-definition OOH advertising screen in South Korea. As well as K-Pop videos, it displays media artwork and public content. The aim is to develop the square into a Korean version of Times Square.