08 DECEMBER 2023
Welcome to this week’s edition of Culture Wire, a newsletter brought to you by Singapore-based pop culture and lifestyle marketing agency Culture Group.
In this week’s edition:
- Innovation of the Week: TikTok and Ticketmaster’s expanded partnership
- Fax, No Printer: Which video broke the internet this week?
- Regional Round-up: Emsphere opens in Bangkok, Detective Conan goes to Makati City, TMNT pops up in Singapore, and more…
Innovation of the Week
🎫 TIKTOK MADE ME BUY… A CONCERT TICKET
TikTok and Ticketmaster are expanding their partnership, which allows users to discover live events and buy tickets directly on TikTok. Using the in-app feature, Certified Artists can add their Ticketmaster-hosted events to their videos. Fans watching their favorite artist’s content can then click the pop-up link to view the event and purchase tickets via an in-app browser. Initially launched in the US in August 2022, the partnership was rolled out to over 20 markets this week.
💡 OUR TAKE
TikTok has cemented its position as the go-to discovery platform for various pop culture passion points, from music to books to movies. Going beyond discovery into commerce has been its next focus — TikTok Shop was launched to capture the #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt consumer movement (TikTok Shop has had its share of success and drama in SEA, see this week’s round-up for more). The expansion of this partnership with Ticketmaster will further TikTok’s march into commerce through the hottest cultural space of the moment: live events.
From an industry perspective, the feature enables Ticketmaster to reach ticket buyers where they are, while empowering artists to connect with fans in a more seamless way. This will be a value-add especially to emerging stars. As TikTok has played a significant role in new artist discovery — Laufey being the latest example — the ticketing feature will enable up-and-coming performers to continue turning social capital into commercial capital. The initial US launch had been pretty successful; videos that use the ticketing feature collectively attracted over 2.5B views (TikTok did not share conversion rates).
For app users, TikTok is turning micro content moments into opportunities for fan movements. The ticketing feature facilitates a frictionless connection between on-platform content consumption with off-platform experiences — and as this newsletter has often discussed, consumer demand for live experiences is currently off the charts.
Brands would do well to live where the fans are — cultural spaces that are native to them. Taking inspiration from this example, how might your brand bridge the worlds of culture, content and commerce? If you need help doing so authentically and effortlessly, we’re here to help.
Fax, No Printer*
For those of you born before 1997, ‘fax, no printer‘ is Gen Z speak for ‘undeniable facts I agree with’
Which video made the most waves on YouTube this week?
A. Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer
B. MrBeast: $10,000 Every Day You Survive In A Grocery Store
C.Variety’s Actors on Actors: Cillian Murphy & Margot Robbie
Scroll down to the end of the newsletter for the correct answer!
Regional Round-up
🛍 Bangkok’s Em District welcomed a new edition over the weekend with the opening of Emsphere. Housing UOB LIVE (which we covered sometime back), this complex will usher in a new era of experiences for consumers — live entertainment is (still!) booming, and such cultural ‘hardware’ additions will only fuel new forms of content and experiences.
📈 Versus a majority of other markets where international acts reign supreme, three homegrown artists emerged as Vietnam’s top five artists in Spotify Wrapped 2023. Repping the local music scene are RPT MCK at #2, GREY D at #4, and tlinh at #5 (her hit song, nếu lúc đó, also ranks as the fourth most-streamed song in Vietnam). What could your brand do to set the stage for local talent?
🔎 Speaking of repping local scenes, Pinoy fans were treated to a familiar sight in Detective Conan: Black Iron Submarine. The 26th installment of the film series features locations in Makati City, like The Peninsula Manila Hotel and Ayala Avenue. Fans feel closer to their passion points when they see themselves being represented. Serving that will win your brand much love.
💥 Fresh off the heels of Anime Festival Asia in the Lion City, Singapore Comic Con returns this weekend to celebrate all things ACGN. One interesting booth that will show up? Singtel and Nickelodeon’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT) partnership, aiming to raise awareness of e-waste. Besides ‘saving the turtles,’ how would you tap into existing IPs to convey your sustainability message?
🇮🇩 Ending off where we started: TikTok. More specifically, TikTok Shop is making a comeback in Indonesia through a partnership with local tech giant GoTo. This strategic collaboration will see a new social shopping service being launched in SEA’s largest economy. TikTok Shop succeeded by empowering small businesses, we’ll be watching how this new service develops.
This Week's Trivia Answer
A. Grand Theft Auto VI Trailer 1
The trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6) just broke the record for most views in 24 hours for a non-music YouTube video, with 90.6M views. This latest installment in the GTA franchise has been 10 years in the making, and the wait is still not over — the trailer teased a 2025 release. Its predecessor GTA V has sold more than 190M copies worldwide since 2013 and remains the second best-selling video game in history.
GTA is a cultural moment in itself — see the multiple leaks of the sixth edition that sent fans into a frenzy, or how 40K+ people camped out a day before to watch the trailer when it dropped. In pop culture, the IP has inspired the popular The Fast and the Furious franchise and has been referenced in Jay-Z’s 99 Problems and Kendrick Lamar’s Backseat Freestyle.
This is a reminder that while esports has taken most of the limelight in recent years, gaming remains one of the biggest passion points — in terms of the size and passion of the fanbase, and the breadth of IPs. Could your next big play harness the power of gaming?
🚀 Over and Out!
What’s your Spotify Wrapped Sound Town? We’d love to know.
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Your Culture Mavens,
Acacia, Angela, Kiko, Teri, & Vicki
