Author: Brian Lee

The explosion of K-Pop

Posted on by Brian Lee

YouTube has launched the careers of musical artists such as Justin Bieber and Arnel Pineda (current lead singer of Journey). Now’s it launching an entire genre of music called K-Pop.

I bet more people are familiar with K-Pop–which is pop music from South Korea–than they realize. Just turn on the radio or go online to hear/watch PSY’s “Gangnam Style,” which the New Yorker calls the “Macarena of the moment.”

These videos have high-quality production and dance choreography, which certainly helped them go viral worldwide (the No. 1 rule for viral marketing is to have good content). So far, “Gangnam Style” has more than 600 million views, Girls’ Generation’s “Gee” has 90 million and Super Junior’s “Mr. Simple” has 50 million.

K-Pop’s popularity is an example of the ever-evolving digital landscape. Previously, you typically discovered new music through the radio and/or by watching MTV/VH1. Now, by the time a song hits one of those media, you’re already familiar with the song through YouTube, Spotify or iTunes.

What does this mean for the notoriously greedy record industry? Besides using these new avenues, record executives need to remember it’s okay to give away something for free. Recent sold-out K-Pop concerts in the United States and huge record sales prove this.

And if something is worth sharing, people will share it.

Voting early doesn’t hurt democracy

Posted on by Brian Lee

I voted absentee this week, as I’ll be on vacation in Florida on Nov. 6. Coincidentally, Wisconsinites could vote as early as Monday of this week, and media reports showed long lines in Madison.

I was stunned by an op-ed in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel titled “Early voting is bad for democracy.” The author, Christian Schneider of the Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, claims voting early is like watch the first three-quarters of a movie or football game.

Does he not live in reality? As an article in the Evansville Courier & Press notes, “most politically engaged Americans chose sides in this year’s presidential election long before they ever heard of Barack Obama or Mitt Romney.” This means there’s really nothing the opposing party can say to sway our votes, and this fact alone is a good enough reason to vote early.

Of course there are the undecideds, which according to an AP-GfK poll, make up about 23 percent of registered voters. Let that minority continue to hear both sides until Election Day. For the rest of us, we’re helping our democracy.

2012 PRSA-Madison Alchemy Awards

Posted on by Brian Lee

Revelation PR, Advertising & Social Media won a PRSA-Madison Award of Excellence for the second straight year, this time in the category of integrated communications, in last week’s annual Alchemy Awards.

Judging this year’s entries was the Suburban Chicagoland Chapter. Feedback on our entry included “this was a good effort to obtain a great result using earned and social media” and “very strategic and well-placed implementation.”

I’ve previously won in categories such as media relations, new communications vehicles and special events, but this is the first time I’ve entered into integrated communications, so I was really happy to have won.