[DISCUSSION] How is After School being promoted?

Yeh this is the whole 'why are they flops' common response. Since everyone's thinking that its because they ain't promoting as well as they could, here's a topic about it. Go crazy.

Here's what I got:

Uee - if you know AS enough it should be pretty obvious. Her popularity in Korea is no joke, and she's also active in acting. She's very popular, so it bumps the group a lot. Whenever she's in variety shows, she talks about After School and always introduces herself as "After School's Uee" rather than just "Uee". It sounds stupid to say she brings people to the fandom, but she does. I see it pretty often. She also does CFs yo.

Orange Caramel - Whether we like it or not, OC is more popular than AS. It's a bother to senior playgirlz/boyz but we have to admit that they do a LOT for After School.

Other Pledis artists - "After school nunas are so pretty! Listen to their new song!! -things like that. Being a L.O.V.E in the past I was pretty much forced to swallow NU'ESTs propaganda for AS. And thats how I got into the fandom. I'm not sure if HV and Dambi do the same, but it would be nice if they did.

Lizzy(?) - She's active in variety shows. Pretty much everyone who sees her on TV would think she cute or hilarious, I only wish she would mention the group more often, if she doesn't already.

wowous wrote:Orange Caramel - Whether we like it or not, OC is more popular than AS. It's a bother to senior playgirlz/boyz but we have to admit that they do a LOT for After School.

I think I'm considered a senior Playboyz and I'm certainly not bothered by Orange Caramel's success. Is there anybody else here that's bothered by Orange Caramels success regardless of whether you're a senior or junior Playgirlz/Playboyz? Also I do think Orange Caramel is more popular in Korea but internationally I think After School is more popular than Orange Caramel.

wowous wrote:Other Pledis artists - "After school nunas are so pretty! Listen to their new song!! -things like that. Being a L.O.V.E in the past I was pretty much forced to swallow NU'ESTs propaganda for AS. And thats how I got into the fandom. I'm not sure if HV and Dambi do the same, but it would be nice if they did.

LOL, that's not propaganda it called support. Pledis artists are are very close to each other. Also Hello Venue said they aspire to be like their After School unnies during a TV radio show interview.

Yeah I know but I couldn't remember the rights words but you get the idea lol

And I'm not bothered by OC's popularity, what bothers me is that some people h8(*sighs bc can't use the full word*) AS but love OC. Like, why...

wowous wrote:Yeh this is the whole 'why are they flops' common response. Since everyone's thinking that its because they ain't promoting as well as they could, here's a topic about it. Go crazy.

Here's what I got:

Uee - if you know AS enough it should be pretty obvious. Her popularity in Korea is no joke, and she's also active in acting. She's very popular, so it bumps the group a lot. Whenever she's in variety shows, she talks about After School and always introduces herself as "After School's Uee" rather than just "Uee". It sounds stupid to say she brings people to the fandom, but she does. I see it pretty often. She also does CFs yo.

Uee has a lot of love from Intl fans and K-Playgirlz, but that doesn't mean all of them love her. I only disliked her skills in the group on her earlier days, because she joined in and was instantly made the front girl, and she was everywhere when other members' weren't, but she proved her own value once she starred on dramas like You're Beautiful, however, she didn't start working harder as a part of the group until later. By that I mean her dancing and singing too. Watching her DIVA days performances, especially when doing Ah! she looked so awkward, after BoY she started working her dance moves, later on she even said it herself that she realized she wanted to dedicate more to the group and she also improved her live singing skills considering she is not a strong vocalist.

wowous wrote:Orange Caramel - Whether we like it or not, OC is more popular than AS. It's a bother to senior playgirlz/boyz but we have to admit that they do a LOT for After School.

It never bothered to me, and I am a fan from their first release days. As someone who follows groups that hold a similar system to AS or have enough members to get sub-units and soloists spin-offs, I was excited to know OC was created, and I honestly believe they should cope with another sub-unit. OC just got lucky, they were well recieved, but nothing compares to the skyrocketing popularity their experimented with Bangkok City. A lot of fans from 2011 onwards came thanks to them.

wowous wrote:Other Pledis artists - "After school nunas are so pretty! Listen to their new song!! -things like that. Being a L.O.V.E in the past I was pretty much forced to swallow NU'ESTs propaganda for AS. And thats how I got into the fandom. I'm not sure if HV and Dambi do the same, but it would be nice if they did.

Yes every single Pledis act does the same for AS and the rest. In fact, the Queen and the qUEEn usually dictate the whole routine of promoting the family. Dambi was the one to introduce AS and campaign, then AS did the same for NU'EST, HV were promoted on SNS by the rest of Pledis acts (at that time Dambi, AS, Uee separately & NU'EST also Fantagio acts contributed to that promotional teaser video) and NU'EST were the ones to cameo on their MV along with back-then TEMPEST (the rest of Pledis Boys), everyone else kept promoting SEVENTEEN for their TV-streams too. Usually Dambi and Uee hold the role of "godmothers" or Pledis representatives, and probably KAHI will join on that too when SEVENTEEN's debut time comes (now she is a soloist out of AS). And in this matter, HV have double feature, as they also helped promote by spreading the word their Fantagio brothers 5URPRISE.

wowous wrote:Lizzy(?) - She's active in variety shows. Pretty much everyone who sees her on TV would think she cute or hilarious, I only wish she would mention the group more often, if she doesn't already.

Well, Lizzy has a lot of presence on TV, although she does more comedy and soap dramas, she's somehow popular too and has such great variety skills that always help promote both OC and AS.

I would add that Nana does drag a lot of fans too. Not just because she's a model and does CM or in Japan she's become a fashionista (yes a model, but representing on the girl who knows and represents fashion too) as well as the main image of the group thanks to her appearence on runaways and magazines; Nana simply drags in people who find her extremely beautiful and just can't get enough. I know it sounds silly, but it is the way how a lot of her fans end up listening to OC & AS.

Then, Juyeon is also growing her popularity in Korea due to her small roles in dramas and she's also a model for some CMs. Her popularity is minor compared to Lizzy or Nana, perhaps, but that also contributes to make the group be known.

I don't believe AS can be called flops, as their sells aren't that bad, they still generate a lot of money for a group that's not constantly promoting their music in Korea, but they aren't top-sellers. Is not a bad thing because you can always improve but from here to having a wider fanbase who assures your music will always instant-kill the charts, there's a long way to go. But to me is fine, they still have a strong enough fanbase, they're even hanging on Japan when the Hallyuu flood has almost dried out, something that could end someday but, again, nowadays they have Nana being the spokesperson and when they go to promote, Kaeun and Lizzy (whom was always a quick-learner for that language) do a lot. There aren't those much K-Pop acts who go there and promote, aside from BoA and TVXQ, that can interact the same way they do because of the language barrier. On that side, I must say Lizzy had always shown she worked her Japanese hard, I used to translate bits from the PG japan blog that I got assigned/requested and Lizzy was the one among the members (even before Kaeun joined) who always used more elaborated forms, words and even used kanji; while reading Juyeon's was always fun because her level was so basic. You could tell they all had help, but that the one helping them did little to change their messages so their level still showed. Uee was quite in the middle, more like trying hard but not yet, while I hardly had Kahi or Jung-Ah's bits to translate. E-Young was quite a fast-learner too. Those small details help a lot, you see, Japanese fans usually give their all on supporting an act not missing a release whether that is in Japan or overseas. I think that it is important they can interact as much as possible with Asian fandoms from countries that are closer to them. For us, Intl. Fans from further away, is not always as easy as it may be for them to get access to purchashing their music or be connected at the times they need to trend World-Wide and such.

Of course there are a lot of things Pledis still should try to do, like finding ways to make the less popular members also play their part into dragging the wider audiences, etc. but I will repeat myself again and say, the better way for them to be noticed as a whole, is to come back more than just once a year in Korea.

OKDR wrote:the better way for them to be noticed as a whole, is to come back more than just once a year in Korea.

One of the main reasons why After School is having less Korean comebacks is because they also need to promote in Japan. This fact brings out a couple of interesting questions,

1) If you prefer After School's Japanese songs over their Korean ones do you even care how popular they are in Korean or how many Korean comebacks they have?

2) Are there fans here that prefer After School stop promoting in Korea and only promote in Japan?

3) Does anyone here care if After School stops promoting in Japan to promote more in Korea?

I don't like After School's Japanese promotions but I still want them to promote in Japan because I don't know how Pledis will do without Avex. If Pledis is doing great I would really like to see Pledis stop working with Avex and have After School promote more in Korea.

I'd never said I liked one over the other. I like both their Japanese tracks and Korean and AS weren't as much present in Japan during 2013, they had time to promote in Korea more than just for one single, but they always rather give it all for the SP performance's sake. When they go to Japan, they don't even spend that much time promoting there, whenever they release something, they go for a week or two, and they keep flying back and forth. Once OC had a couple of promotions coinciding in both countries and they handled it perfectly.

And as an example that is not their Japanese promotions interfering on their Korean career, we have HV and NU'EST, they aren't promoting music in Japan (NU'EST goes there only for fan-meetings and celebration concerts) and they have fallen on the same routine of hardly releasing music in Korea.

A year has 12 months, they should be able to come from 2-3 times a year in Korea with no schedule troubles, even if they go to Japan to promote. That's not an excuse to me.

And I think it would matter the day they quit promoting in Japan, to their income mostly, then it would be a pity to me to loose that other side they have with J-Pop music productions, but I never discard that option, Japanese labels can dismiss you really quick when they don't want you/need you anymore. I do like both material they do for both countries, but as long as they kept trying different stuff in Korea every once in a while, that would be fine to me. However that is not the problem, because Pledis' releases have slown down now.

And of course I do care for them doing good in Korea, may I remind you I follow them from their beginnings? If I didn't care I wouldn't even bother to follow them out of their Japanese releases, something I already do with other groups but the other way around. Honestly, sometimes it seems you write your comments as an attack to certain members on this forum just because we don't share your opinions on some matters. It really seems it bothers you that I stated I do like their Japanese material and what AVEX has done with most of their concepts there.

I think it's obvious that the ones who have intervined in this topic we do care for their popularity in Korea.

OKDR wrote:...they had time to promote in Korea more than just for one single, but they always rather give it all for the SP performance's sake.

I think the 6 months they used for preparing for First Love was well used. The dedication they showed in order to achieve what they did for the First Love preparation is no easy feat for idols. What they did with First Love wasn't just for Pledis and themselves. It was for us fans as well. I pick up on things like that and things like that mean a lot to me. To most fans I'm guessing After School are just entertainers. To me they're more than that, they're people who I can draw strength from through the things they do and the things they've done. What they've done for First Love is one of these examples. Also if After School didn't release Shh in December last year maybe they could have used that time to release a Happy Pledis album instead.

OKDR wrote:When they go to Japan, they don't even spend that much time promoting there, whenever they release something, they go for a week or two, and they keep flying back and forth. Once OC had a couple of promotions coinciding in both countries and they handled it perfectly.

Do you think you can provided After School's and Orange Caramel's Japanese and Korean schedule from 2011 to 2013 to demonstrate your point.

OKDR wrote:And as an example that is not their Japanese promotions interfering on their Korean career, we have HV and NU'EST, they aren't promoting music in Japan (NU'EST goes there only for fan-meetings and celebration concerts) and they have fallen on the same routine of hardly releasing music in Korea.

Good example, I'm afraid Pledis might have too much artist for them to handle. When Seventeen debutes I'm afraid that Pledis will spend even less time on After School.

OKDR wrote:A year has 12 months, they should be able to come from 2-3 times a year in Korea with no schedule troubles, even if they go to Japan to promote. That's not an excuse to me.

OK...it's easy for fans to say how easy things are when they're not actually managing an entertainment company but I'll like see you guys actually do it. Like you've already pointed out, Pledis has other artist's to promote and that'll limit the number of After School promotions. If After School didn't have to promote in Japan, they can use that time to promote in Korea.

OKDR wrote:Honestly, sometimes it seems you write your comments as an attack to certain members on this forum just because we don't share your opinions on some matters.

If that's the case then you've misunderstood what I've written and/or you've taken it personally. If you've felt that I've attack certain members of this forum then please point out the instance where I've done so and lets discuss it at those places. If the ASDaze admins has deleted those posts already then let's discuss it at Rules for Discussions topic.

OKDR wrote:It really seems it bothers you that I stated I do like their Japanese material and what AVEX has done with most of their concepts there.

It really seems like you've taken something I've said personally. I think there's some sort of misunderstanding because I don't have anything against you even though I've disagreed with you a lot. Also I'm the one that gave you that positive vote for your first post in this topic ages ago. If I held any negative feelings towards you wouldn't you think I'll go around down voting your posts instead. The only time I've ever given someone a negative vote was to Jayden by accident, you can confirm that with Jayden and by looking at my statistics. Is it those questions from my previous post that's made you think this? I'm just trying to understand what's become of this fandom. It doesn't bother me that you stated you like After School's Japanese material. However it will bother me if fans attempt pressure After School to do more Japanese promotions and neglect their Korean promotions. Also I ask those question because I'm concerned about After School's future as a Kpop group and it'll be nice to know that there's sufficient fans supporting them for them to succeed as Kpop artist.

You are right when you say it does bother me what Avex has done with most of their concepts, although it's probably more accurate to say it does bother me what Avex has done with most of their promotions. I don't like the quality of the work Avex creates, I think it's over prices and I feel like Avex's isn't showing us fans any love. I haven't really paid much attention to the Dress to Kill album yet but I'm getting the idea what I've just said is true for that as well, from interviews I've seen.

Some of the stuff they've said in interviews about Dress to Kill bothers me e.g. in the VanityMix interview

VanityMix wrote:On the contrary, is there any song that was particularly difficult to record?
E-Young: None! (answered immediately) All members finished their part quickly. It’s because we are…
Lizzy: Pro! (laugh)

and in the Oricon Style interview,

Oricon Style wrote:How was the recording process? Was there any difficult songs?

Lizzy: We got no trouble at all. If you ask why, it’s because we are pro (laugh). Everyone was so fast, we finished recording just in the blink of an eye.

If it isn't obvious yet, my concern is the way Lizzy answers. In the VanityMix interview E-young hesitates and Lizzy interrupts with "Pro!". It appears Lizzy is covering up something and to enforce my suspicions 18 days later in the Oricon Style interview Lizzy says "If you ask why, it’s because we are pro".

I'm not sure what Lizzy might be covering up if she is covering up something. There's the possibility that they really did finish recording quickly because they are pros....it just the way that it is said which  makes it seems like something wasn't right. Maybe the recording was rushed because the resources Avex allocated to the preparation for Dress to Kill is not enough and they are running out of money and/or time. Maybe Avex has lost interest in After School so Avex couldn't be bother with the extra effort because Avex is going to terminate their contract. Who knows?

I wish either or both After School and/or Orange Caramel would do a North American tour

I'm sure they'd have support in the states if they went to the best places like New York, San Francisco, and LA.

wowous wrote:Yeah I know but I couldn't remember the rights words but you get the idea lol

And I'm not bothered by OC's popularity, what bothers me is that some people h8(*sighs bc can't use the full word*) AS but love OC. Like, why...

This is one of things that I 'love'. (love is a big word, but I don't know how to say it, sorry :C)
AS has a wonderful concept, so powerful, sexy but not vulgar, so classy and elegant... but a lot of people says bad things beacuse they can't open their mind. AS are sexy and elegant, they can sing and on the stage, they're fire!
But I love OC's popularity beacuse it's a wonderful subunit, so different and unique.

I like the japanese concept and their song, but not how they promote it.
Talking with other friends, I think that non-fans have a bad idea of AS... like they can't sing (and it's not true), they are too much sexy (when they're so elegant) and things like this.

Maybe now that the sexy concepts are everywhere, their comeback can be easy approved, without bad comments (I hope)

I guess when new or non-fans think of After School in recent years, they think of First Love and pole dancing. While I feel the song and video is great, others associate pole dancing with negative images and that's how I think non Playgirlz and non Playboyz think AS is bad

To Adam:

Sorry for coming late, this site is giving me serious issues with loading so I don't come here that often now.

Well, I didn't took it personally until I read your last bit concerning the part about their Japanese promotions being the cause of them not promoting to Korea. It was the bit asking if we/I did care about their Korean promotions, honestly.

I still insist is not that hard to come back, unless you don't have the money, of course. But scheduling releases like that wasn't an issue for Pledis back in the day, it seems it is now. Last year, AS barely released anything to Japan, until Heaven came out, they hadn't been doing that much there, concerning releases, just fan-meetings as a group.

AVEX works weirdly, but partly it all depends on the type of contract they have with them. They have some acts under them that depend more on their original agencies than the label itself, so we should first see what type of contract they have, but judging by the pace they release stuff, is a mere agreement on a certain number of releases with Pledis , at least.

Regarding the possibility of AVEX terminating their contract, this is one fear I'd been having for a while now. But it's based on the way they have managed their own acts, meaning singers that were managed directly by them, without a middle agency or former agency in between, so we can't really know.

The only example I have in mind are BoA and Tohoshinki, AVEX did/does have a contract with them aside from SM, and that is the reason why they could held the DB5SK longer or make BoA fullfill her schedule while she was MIA in the US, trying to launch her career there.

@OKDR, good to see you're back, Hope you don't have any more internet issues

OKDR wrote:It was the bit asking if we/I did care about their Korean promotions, honestly.

Guys, don't take those questions personally. Like I said I ask those question because I'm concerned about After School's future as a Kpop group and it'll be nice to know that there's sufficient fans supporting them for them to succeed as Kpop artist. Even if you don't support After School's Korean comebacks I'm not going to hold it against you.

Make peace not war Yes we're here to discuss our favorite kpop group. I don't sense any attacks in the threads I read here so no one should feel threatened or take it personal.

As for the group's promotions I see two things happening at the same time.

The girls are all doing a lot of individual projects (except EYoung *sad face*) that takes up a lot of their time. As a team they can't clear their schedules to promote as a team so that impacts promotions in and out of Korea.

The group is also trying to gain ground in China so that makes 3 Asian markets they are "dipping" in. When stretched, you can only do so well covering 3 countries versus heavily focusing on one country and smashing it.

Even during the latest promotion in China last week, the team could only send 4 girls because Orange Caramel is still doing Catallena and JuJu is filming.

Their footprint in Korea won't be as deep as in the past since they are spreading it across Asia. Also there just isn't the time to do heavy promotions as a whole team.

The hunger now is to get exposure through as many activities as possible instead of just through music in my opinion

Seeing this thread is about promotion and Marinesquad just talked about promoting as a team and gaining exposure and stuff, I just wanted to say that I hope HV will comeback next before AS does this year.

Why so? Firstly, I lived through the Catallena comeback (I mean I was always watching their comebacks but never really actively taken part in it until now) and saw that day when they came in second. So I was thinking.. that we should be able to do this but something just went wrong.

Secondly, I think we (the fans) need another round of rehearsal or warming up in terms of what we can do or should be doing to support AS. I know that HV is an entirely separate group (OK maybe not entirely but yea) but they are the closest group we can get to AS. IF HV do comeback first, then we can take that opportunity to go through once, what we could do to support IF they were AS. We don't have to do it every week or for every show, but we should at least be clear of what we should do (I think Adam is very clear what to do but I'm not sure if I do or the others) (Adam has that account sponsor thing going on so maybe that needs a dry run too).

So writing this length has made myself confused as to whether or not I've written what I wanted to say because I always tend to get carried away and talk about other things but anyway, I just think that if we get one more chance to clarify by acting on it what we can do when AS comes back, we should be able to get AS their number 1 this year. Riding on the fact that so many things have seem to be going well so far for them.

Mbi wrote:...but they are the closest group we can get to AS.

@Mbi, I feel the same

Mbi wrote:(I think Adam is very clear what to do but I'm not sure if I do or the others) (Adam has that account sponsor thing going on so maybe that needs a dry run too)

@Mbi, I have plans to encourage fans to help vote more. Part one of those plans is implemented through that account sharing/sponsoring thing, part 2 of my plans address your concerns and deals with sharing of knowledge for helping After School win and how to use that knowledge. Part 2 is about helping fans feel confident about what to do to help After School win. The Playgirlz Syllabus helps out a lot with this although I'm not sure about the accuracy of some of the things that it mentions. I'll present part 2 later right now I'm too busy to do it. Part 3 of my plans deals with encouraging fans that feel that their votes/involvement are too little to make a difference. I think part 3 isn't necessary right now and I'm planning to only implement it if part 1 and part 2 fails.