It's been half a year since Samsung announced its collaboration with South Korean boy band sensation BTS, and the company is still riding that wave of K-Pop stardom. The endeavor appears to be a massive success in numerous respects, but longevity is certainly among its most significant accomplishments. Cue the latest example of Kim Tae-hyung – better known as V – drumming up yet another round of renewed interest in the Galaxy S20 on social media. In this instance, a picture of V taking a selfie with the Galaxy S20 yielded enough Weibo inquiries about the smartphone he's holding that it took a life of its own on Twitter where it's been making the rounds since yesterday as one more reminder that Samsung should be pretty happy about its BTS partnership.
So, while hardcore tech enthusiasts aren't necessarily the core demographic that the BTS-themed Galaxy S20 and Galaxy Buds+ are catered toward, we've been following the effects of the #SamsungXBTS campaign with great interest because it just seems to be so much more effective at generating social media capital than anything else Samsung attempted in recent memory.
🔥🔥🔥Multiple ppl on weibo askd about the phone Tae is holding under a K-pop blogger's post about his selfie today👇
See how is #TAEHYUNG 's huge influence and business value as the ambassador of Samsung.@SamsungMobile @SamsungMobileUS #BTSV @BTS_twt #방탄소년단뷔 pic.twitter.com/yva5nVSu9K— V Believe (@V_Believe_) August 16, 2020
BTS single-handedly made Samsung cool again
While the BTS fandom prides itself on its diversity, one of its major demographics also happens to place high on Samsung's shortlist of audiences that it simply doesn't understand. We've been regularly getting new studies suggesting the Galaxy brand is getting worse at appealing to young people for a while now. A particularly sore point of many such findings usually revolves around how irrelevant Samsung is among teens nowadays. That demographic is a pretty significant indicator of sustainability seeing how much more likely it is yield new lifelong – or at least long-term – customers. Meaning it's not one Samsung can just ignore or keep failing to reach indefinitely before its global position becomes threatened.
This would be the main reason why the Seoul-based tech giant keeps throwing money in seemingly random directions tangentially associated with young people such as Fortnite, PUBG, and Blackpink. But it wasn't until #SamsungXBTS that one such effort simultaneously generated so much virality while still helping Samsung move countless flagships in a matter of days – or a day, in some markets.
It should hence come as no surprise that BTS is already promoting the Galaxy Z Fold 2, Samsung's highly refined take at the foldable smartphone concept announced this month. Perhaps it's premature to speculate about a potential Galaxy Z Fold 2 BTS Edition, but if there's one thing that could deter the global economic collapse that 2020 is so determined to cause, then a spending spree induced by a BTS-themed smartphone in the $2,000 ballpark sounds flamboyant enough that it might just work.
