Apple partnered with the hottest KPOP girl group, 'NewJeans', for this ‘Shot on iPhone’ campaign. The creative of this collaboration is the Music Video of NewJeans’ song, 'ETA', exclusively shot using an iPhone.

Interestingly, the Music Video's viral spread worldwide occurred organically upon the song's release, without mentioning any features of the iPhone.

Furthermore, it evolved into a societal phenomenon and even a syndrome.

South Korea is the country of Samsung, given its status as a Korean brand.

Since smartphones entered Korea, Galaxy’s market share has never fallen below 70%, forcing the iPhone to settle for a consistent market share in the 10% range throughout.

Apple thought about breaking the cycle of the dominance of Galaxy in the Korean market, and the key was the young generation in South Korea.

Unlike the older generation, they were still forming brand loyalty, sensitive to trends, avoiding established norms, and, above all, had high CLV (Customer Lifetime Value). Perhaps targeting the younger demographic could be the solution to breaking the generational 'cycle of Galaxy.'

And the answer to that could be found in the music videos of K-pop artists.

The muse for this campaign was NewJeans.

They are currently the hottest KPOP group in Korea, not only ranking first on Billboard but also serving as influential trendsetters, with each member as a global ambassador for luxury brands such as Chanel, Gucci, Dior, etc.

Generally, K-POP music videos typically employ high-performance equipment, but we made the official music video for their new song, ‘ETA,' shot exclusively with an iPhone.

While shooting a KPOP music video, we conveyed the iPhone camera's aesthetic color tones through the footage, demonstrated the Action Mode's performance in capturing stable shots even during intense dance sequences, and highlighted Apple's intuitive and simple UX/UI, and showcased the convenience of FaceTime. Without mentioning a word.

The young generation tends to avoid advertisements, but paradoxically, they are passionately enthusiastic about cool and entertaining digital content.

Rather than relying on one-sided claims about the product in ads, we decided to focus on creating content that these young people love. The key was the music video of KPOP artist group.

The primary goal in targeting South Korea's young demographic was to secure prominent visibility and achieve powerful viral dissemination. To accomplish this, we strategically occupied platforms ranging from YouTube to META and prominent display placements on major search engines, optimizing exposure to align with the smartphone usage patterns of the youth targets. Additionally, we diversified content formats, including variations in length and form, covering both long-form and short-form content.

As a result, we successfully propelled not only the music video content but also garnered interest in collaborations between models and brands, along with product functionalities.

In Korea alone, the media expenditure totaled approximately 5 billion KRW (about $3.7 million), divided significantly between TVC and Digital platforms.

During the early stages of the campaign, we utilized TVC and YouTube Mastheads to secure and operate on platforms that could deliver the most impactful exposure.

Once we captured initial attention, we actively targeted the NewJeans’ fandom and geeks with a keen interest in electronic devices, retargeting highly responsive users to achieve repetition and imprinting within a short period.

While it’s true that we have effectively executed our strategies, the truth is, we have operated media more efficiently than anyone else.

Thanks to this highly attractive music video, the music video continues to be showcased and exposed through owned media channels, even at this point where model contracts and ad executions have concluded.

This ongoing visibility suggests that our campaign could potentially be one of the longest-running advertising campaign.

As part of Apple's SOiP project, the 'ETA' of NewJeans was released in August 23, and as of January 24, it’s still charting on major charts worldwide, including the Billboard.

The official music video for ETA on their official channel has garnered over 60 million views and more than 30,000 comments, making it a tremendous hit.

NewJeans’ SOiP project went beyond mere marketing effects; it turned using the iPhone into something sophisticated, cool, and trendy.

Naturally, market share(M/S) surged explosively, particularly among the younger demographic of 2030, skyrocketing from 30% to 60% in just a few months.

Furthermore, sensing such effects, Apple expanded its campaign beyond Korea to countries such as Japan, Thailand, and even the United States.

As a result, in January 24, Apple's iPhone surpassed Samsung's Galaxy, reclaiming the top spot in global smartphone M/S.