FAN PERSPECTIVE ON BTOB’S YOOK SUNGJAE’S CREDIBILITY AS SOME BY MI BRAND AMBASSADOR

Abstract

The Korean wave has caused several impacts to occur. An example of the impact of Korean wave in global society is the use of K-Pop idols as brand ambassadors to represent their companies in public. One example of a company using K-pop idols as brand ambassadors is Some by Mi. Some by Mi officially announced that BTOB's Yook Sungjae became the brand ambassador on 11th of January 2019. The purpose of conducting this research was to describe how fan’s perspectives on the credibility of BTOB’s Yook Sungjae as brand ambassador of Some by Mi. This research also uses several theories and concepts as a basis for research, such as communication, sources or communicators, brand ambassadors, characteristics of brand ambassadors, S-O-R theory, and fan’s perspectives. This research approach uses a qualitative approach and uses a case study research method. The author obtains the data and information needed by conducting participant observation, interviews, documentation, and literature study. The results of the research that has been conducted by the authors show that from the perspective of Melody, Yook Sungjae is credible as the brand ambassador of Some by Mi when viewed from the four characteristics of a brand ambassador because he has credibility, popularity, attractiveness, and strength. According to perspective of Melody, Yook Sungjae has those brand ambassador characteristics. Although Yook Sungjae had the credibility to be a brand ambassador, Yook Sungjae also had disadvantages of being a brand ambassador Some by Mi due to Yook Sungjae's entry into the military which made some activities as an ambassador brand inefficient in promoting products, representing the company Some by Mi in public, to built product brand image and branding activitiy.