After Coca-Cola, Facebook has joined the K-pop bandwagon by partnering with the popular record-breaking boyband BTS and LINE FRIENDS. The social media giant announced that it will integrate the BT21 stickers into its Facebook and Messenger platforms from July 19.
In October 2017, the K-pop group BTS collaborated with LINE FRIENDS and created BT21, which is basically a collection of frames, AR filters and stickers. Each of the BTS members has designed their own LINE characters following the characteristics such as values, taste and personality.
The latest announcement on Facebook has created a lot of excitement among the BTS fans and a lot of netizens have claimed that they would reactivate their old Facebook accounts to enjoy using the upcoming stickers. Many of the fans have also said that they would use the stickers while chatting with people on Messenger.
Jennifer Whitley, creative director for Messenger art, told Adweek that the creative expression plays a big role in communicating with people on Messenger. According to her, the platform aims to offer more fun ways that would help the users to express themselves better using various stickers depicting different experiences.
LINE FRIENDS released the BT21 line of characters as the first output of their "FRIENDS CREATORS" project. It collaborates with global artists to create a new intellectual property.
On July 11, the Incheon International Airport in South Korea announced that they will employ BTS-designed BT21 characters at the airport. They will feature the collection to promote the airport and provide "entertaining and interactive facilities and services" to the customers.
The airport has decided to air eight promotional films featuring BT21. The list of films will be revealed on the official social media platform of the airport. According to the report, the luggage carts will also feature the BT21 characters.
"85 per cent of travellers to Korea are from Asia, 60 per cent of whom are millennials. This project reflects the need for a marketing strategy targeting (the younger age group)," Chung Il-young, the president and CEO of Incheon International Airport told Asia One.
Incheon International Airport authority said that the latest joint project with BTS will surely act as "a historic collaboration with the very best names in the world."
