On May 2012, the movie ‘ The Avengers’ started screening globally. The movie was a huge success not only in the U.S., but also worldwide. According to Boxoffice.com, the movie made around $600 million domestically and $1.5bilion globally.
I also watched the movie with my girlfriend, who really wanted to watch it in Korea when I was on vacation from school. After the movie, she looked like she was disappointed with the movie. I asked to her why she wanted to watch the movie so badly since she didn't like it. The only reason why she wanted to watch was that all the people around her watched and talked about the movie. She didn’t want to be behind in the trend.
Many Americans waited to watch the movie because they knew that the movie is based on the successful comic books released in the past. People already have knowledge and a certain expectation about the movie and this fact became one of the main reasons that made people want to watch the movie. However, many of people from outside of the U.S. may not have this same knowledge. For example, I asked my friends who already watched the movie if they knew about the comic books or had read any of them before. The answer was ‘No’, and no one had any background information about the movie either. They said they watched the movie only because so many people around the world had watched it.
It’s not just about the movie. From few years ago, fast fashion brand companies such as ZARA, H&M, and Urban Outfitter became one of the many successful businesses throughout the world. Fast fashion is the contemporary term used by fashion retailers to acknowledge that designs move from catwalk to store in the fastest time to capture current trends in the market. So basically, companies provide new trends in fashion and clothing to customers as fast as they can with affordable prices just like fast food restaurants. These companies gather information from customers. When the customer buys something from the store, this information goes to store managers and from store managers to market specialists and designers to analyze what customers buy most. After they analyze it, companies distribute these items to customers around the world as fast as they can and these items become global trends.
In order to succeed in other side of the world, Asian entertainment companies should think about what people like to follow unconsciously and what can be a global trend. Using digital media is the easiest way to gather information about what people like and how people react to new content. Just like the fast fashion system, Asia entertainment companies should provide new contents based on information from our customers.
Also, Asian entertainment companies should understand the power of digital media well. For example, PSY’s success started from his music video from YouTube. People watched the video and spread his video to other people through social networking services. Some people looked up his video because people around them started talking about PSY. Now, he has become the first Asian artist who hit number one on the UK music charts and number two on the U.S. Billboard charts. Just like the movie ‘ The Avengers’, people listen to his music and watch the video because of the influence of others.
Following something just because other people do is not a great. However, if people like something with good content in it and other people around them also follow it, this will be good enough to launch something into a global trend. In order to succeed globally, Asian entertainment companies should provide well-prepared contents while understanding digital media's power to grab the peoples' attention. This will be the most effective and powerful way to generate a global trend.
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