Abstract
This case study research analyzes the cross-artistic project Connect, BTS and its relationship to transmedia branding, meaning-making and spatiality. After an overview of the argument and a section on methodology, the reader will find the analysis of the case study. Thanks to the use of a qualitative approach, this examination of Connect, BTS unveils the ways in which this initiative becomes a location that allows a reconceptualization of space that fosters plurality, exchange, and subjectivity. Connect, BTS unites seemingly incompatible fields under one project, favoring the co-creation of meanings among different artists, BTS, ARMY (the group’s fans), business partners and viewers. This process has been investigated through content analysis, exploring Connect, BTS’s transmedia strategies from branding to storytelling, to evaluate their efficacy in regard to brand identity, brand experience, and brand trust. The paper will also explore the variety of layers and spatial dimensions contained in Connect, BTS, which flow from art to the music industry, material and digital space, various market sectors and media. In light of this, Connect, BTS embraces a galaxy of separate semantic units into an extended liminal continuum that does not discount difference.
Highlights
When thinking of BTS, their artistry and brand, one of the main distinctive characteristics that come to mind is transmedia praxis
The work and media presence of the group integrates multiple transmedia elements, from the narrative universes expanded and hidden within albums and promotional content (e.g. The BTS Universe stemming from the record The Most Beautiful Moment in Life) to intertextuality, in which meanings can be traced back from ARMY’s social media to BTS’s MVs, or “multimodality” (Jenkins 2011), through which BTS show different sides of their lives on and off stage thanks to different modes of representation such as social media, reality TV or film
This case study research on Connect, BTS aims at providing answers to the three initial research questions: 1. How is space reconceptualized in Connect, BTS? How do spatiality and transmedia practices inform each other in Connect, BTS?
Summary
When thinking of BTS, their artistry and brand, one of the main distinctive characteristics that come to mind is transmedia praxis. The extent to which BTS’s narrative and artistic universe branches out in different milieux does it bridge cultural differences and spatial borders, overcoming the perceived divide between the physical and the digital spheres In this sense, the tendency of transcending space and boundaries is reflected in the marketing practices of the group, especially within transmedia branding. Form of art or brand maintains its unique characteristics and allows media and meanings to flow from one to the other through practices of transmedia storytelling and branding This synergic engagement fosters the union of seemingly different milieux under one project, and makes Connect, BTS a project worth researching for its marketing, semantic and spatial implications. After the discussion of the research questions and methodology in the first section, the second part of this paper will dive into the analysis of the chosen case study, culminating in the conclusions, which will wrap up this inquiry by summarizing the overall argument and advancing suggestions for future research
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