Feel the Rhythm of Korea is a marketing campaign run by the Korea Tourism Organization, a government agency of South Korea. Each of its videos showcases one or more locations in the country. Many of the videos feature modern adaptations of traditional Korean folk music, while media personalities, singers, and dancers perform in iconic or scenic locations. ^[1]

Its first season of videos ran between 2020 and 2021. Its second second began in September 2021 ^[1] and ran until 2022. A mini-series featuring songs selected by K-pop group BTS was released in October to November 2022.

The campaign has been met with acclaim for its mix of traditional and modern elements of Korean culture, and has accumulated hundreds of millions of views total across various platforms. The first video alone accumulated over 200 million views within a few months of its release.

The full songs composed exclusively for the advertising campaign have also been released. In September 2021, the album Feel the Rhythm of Korea Part 1 ^[2] and the two-track single Feel the Rhythm of Korea Part 2 were released. ^[3]

List of videos

Feel the Rhythm of Korea with BTS

A mini-series was released in October and November 2022 that featured songs chosen to represent each location by Suga and Jimin of the K-pop group BTS. ^[24]

Success and acclaim

Many of its videos have garnered dozens of millions of views each. ^[30] The July 2020 first video in the series, covering the capital city Seoul and featuring pansori–hip hop fusion music by Leenalchi and dance by the Ambiguous Dance Company ( Korean: 앰비규어스댄스컴퍼니), received over 200 million views across several platforms by October 2020. ^[31] The video led to a boom in popularity for both Leenalchi and the Ambiguous Dance Company, with the latter going on to collaborate with British band Coldplay in their music video for the song " Higher Power". ^[32]

An October 2022 video covering the city of Busan that featured K-pop group BTS received four million views on its first day, ^[33] and surpassed 100 million views by December of that year. ^[34] The video was also played on billboard ads in the United States, Britain, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, and Qatar. ^[35]

Videos in the campaign have been praised by international and domestic observers. ^[36] Lebawit Lily Girma of Skift called it a "clever, energy-packed message for travelers as to what makes the destination stand out from a cultural and outdoor standpoint, whether it’s Seoul’s vibrant fashion-clad streets and residents of all ages, or Korea’s surfing towns and islets contrasting against its rural daily life scenes". ^[37]

In March 2021, the head of the KTO and organizer of the campaign Oh Chung-seop (오충섭) received a presidential award in recognition of the success of the campaign. By the time of the award, the videos had received over 600 million views on YouTube and Facebook. ^[38]

References