A Peek Under the Hood of NCT 127's Souped-Up 2 Baddies Experiential Pop-Up

On Oct. 6, nearly three years since their last American show, South Korean pop outfit NCT 127 played for a sold-out crowd of 12,000 fans at Los Angeles' Crypto.com Arena for the U.S. leg of their second world tour, Neo City – The Link. The performance was timed to the recent release of 2 Baddies, their genre-bending fourth studio album featuring a title track with a strong automotive concept. For any other tour, the men would have likely taken their bows and rushed off to the next city. This time, they stuck around for a couple extra days to promote the album and, for one night, connect with fans for a surprise pop-up that brought their newest music—and the revved-up concept behind it—to life. "This is what we do it for, you know? This is pretty much the happiest part of our career," band member Mark told Adweek. "This is why we work hard in practice rooms. Meeting our fans is essential." The free four-hour event not only allowed fans to connect beyond the show, it gave the band's Korean and U.S. labels, SM Entertainment and Virgin Records, a chance to score an additional moment of precious fan engagement, a necessary component for continued marketing and artist development. One night only Held at the Petersen Automotive Museum, the 2 Baddies Speedway pop-up merged art and experiential by inviting brands, creators and devoted NCT fans (or NCTzens) to connect with the band as they celebrated their latest music and long-awaited return to the States. For the activation, the team tapped brands like Boba Guys, who were on hand to pass out specialty drinks, and Porsche, the centerpiece of NCT 127's latest single. Attendees could not only see the actual customized Porsche featured in the "2 Baddies" music video but also film a quick 360 video next to it with SelfieXmedia. Fans only learned of the pop-up's Petersen Museum location day of but still showed up in droves. To get the crowd moving, popular dance creators Ellen and Brian and Eclipse taught the song's main choreography for a #2BaddiesChallenge. After fans nailed the final step, NCT 127 took the stage for an intimate Q&A session and to personally raffle off autographed albums. "It’s just always amazing when we can bring the fans and artists together," Dom Rodriguez, svp and head of SM Entertainment USA, told Adweek. "We don’t get to do it all the time, so whenever we can create an experience that connects the album along with the artist being in market, in an event where the fans are present, it’s always an incredible moment." Speed off An event like this typically requires massive coordination and lots of time. According to Leslie Cooper, Virgin Records' vp of marketing who was essential in conceptualizing and organizing the pop-up, the pop-up took less than a month to pull together. Cooper saw the potential for a collaboration between the museum and NCT 127 after a previous 2020 team-up with the label's K-pop supergroup, SuperM, during the Petersen's Virtual Car Week. It’s a ‘fans first’ world that we are living in. Doing whatever we can to give back to the fans is probably the most important lesson here.—Leslie Cooper, vp of marketing, Virgin Records "With NCT 127’s new album also themed around cars, it was an obvious partnership, so we jumped on the idea immediately," she said. "A longer lead time is always ideal, but we really felt important to try to do something special for the fans, and there was just this small window to make it happen." Lincoln Ramirez, Petersen's business operations manager, said the event also posed a unique opportunity for the museum and its 30-year history. "The Petersen has hosted a number of events where the celebrity or artist is just as much of a draw as the vehicles they’re connected to," he informed Adweek. "This, however, was our first time hosting a pop-up specifically for a 'fan fest.'” Turning any museum into a fan summit requires careful consideration, even for one as expansive as Petersen. To curb any potential safety issues and overcrowding, the team waited to announce the event until just a few days beforehand. They also implemented an RSVP system to limit attendees and held onto the name of the venue until the morning of. How NCT 127 Turns Original Content Into a Winning Digital Marketing Strategy "If we tell people far in advance, they will line up way ahead of time," said Rodriguez. "While that’s very exciting and we love that enthusiasm, we also need to take everyone’s safety into account." Still, the response was robust, to say the least. "We certainly had thousands of RSVPs, but the amount that the space could accommodate was about 2,000," he shared. "The most challenging part of any of these events is accommodating everyone," added Cooper. "I wish we could find that 'unlimited venue,' but then again you lose that intimacy." Porsche, Boba Guys and creators helped bring art and culture to life. While the free event didn't spark any on-site revenue benchmarks or merch sale goals for the labels, the event still worked to grow and maintain interest in future products and events in the experiential space. More importantly, offering easily sharable moments through photo zones, dance challenges and a Q&A that responded to questions submitted online provided ways for fans to spread the word on social media—a key method of garnering new fans. And there's buy-in for Petersen, as well, per Ramirez: "Awareness. It’s easy to assume that, as an automotive museum, we’re simply about antique cars. The Petersen Museum does an incredible job of presenting the automobile from a number of different perspectives that connect with a wide audience. If hosting automotive-adjacent events like a K-pop fan fest featuring Porsches helps draw some new eyes to the museum, we’re all for it." Fan engagement is evolving Since the pandemic, attitudes around fan engagement have shifted, especially in entertainment and sports. Virtual experiences like livestreamed concerts, online fan meets and even audio spaces on social media have led to a keen interest in the fan possibilities of the digital space. In fact, 74% of virtual concertgoers say they will continue to seek livestreamed events despite the return to in-person, according to a report from EY. Yet, recent research by American Express also shows that 85% of customers are still willing to pay for curated customer experiences. Despite how these findings may look, these aren't exactly conflicting ideologies. As music marketers face an evolving landscape that depends more heavily on these fan-focused experiences, expert note that the key to making those lasting connections will lie in finding a balance between digital and in-person events. When it comes to NCT 127, SM Entertainment is already taking a hybrid approach to fan engagement: those unable to attend the live shows can still experience the tour online Oct. 23 through the Beyond Live streaming platform, which the company has frequently used since the beginning of the pandemic. As Rodriguez and Cooper note, the team will continue to consider varied modes to fan outreach for the band in the future. "I think that fan engagement will be done in many different ways," said Rodriguez. "Whether that’s in some form of a digital platform or metaverse, or something like the Beyond Live series, I think there will be more and more experiences like that coming to life." Cooper added, "It’s my favorite part, ideating on these artist activations and coming up with unique experiences for the fans." It's a 'fans first' world Looking to the future, Rodriguez encourages music marketers to seize opportunities to create more fan-focused moments around their artists—and they don't have to reinvent the wheel to do so. "Try to be innovative in the ways that you bring experiences together and how you connect those dots between artists and fans," he advised. "Music video sets, interactive areas, intimate moments between fan and artist—not necessarily new things that we are inventing here, but just a matter of being as creative as you can with the elements you have to work with." As Mark notes, these moments just as necessary for artists like him and his bandmates. "I feel like [touring and meeting fans] is really, really important for growth," said Mark. "You've gotta go to the cities and see the local fans in person to show that you really do care." Cooper concludes with a reminder for marketers looking to reevaluate their fan engagement strategies: "The most important thing from our side was to give back to the fans. It’s a ‘fans first’ world that we are living in. Doing whatever we can to give back to the fans is probably the most important lesson here."