Thanks to donations from VIPs — a moniker for fans of Big Bang — nationwide and the sale of merchandise, the fan clubs were able to fund a month-long bus advertisement campaign in Kuala Lumpur.
The bus followed the Ampang-Masjid Jamek route and passed the Korean Village in Ampang and KLCC Twin Towers bearing the message “Hey Big Bang, welcome to Malaysia!!”
Fans also gathered at the Hallyu Festival at Taylor’s University Lakeside campus weeks before the concert to paint a giant banner which read: “We Malaysia VIPs (Love) You BigBang Until Whenever.
The 50m-long banner was hung inside Stadium Merdeka, the concert venue.
On the concert day, they distributed free red and blue LED lights to Malaysian VIPs and sold a pair for RM2 to international fans.
Concert goers were asked to turn on the LED lights when the group sang its songs Fantastic Baby and Blue respectively.
Zaty, a former administrator for MYVIPs, a Malaysian fan club, considers the months of planning worth it because all the missions were completed successfully.
She attributes it to the fan sites joining forces to make it work.
“We knew that it would be better for all the fanbases to come together. We wouldn’t have made such an impact if we had moved as single (entities),” she says.
“We cried when the concert started because what we had planned came true,” she says.
It is not immediately known how many fan bases exist in Malaysia for Big Bang but Zaty describes them as “many” and “scattered”.
They are non-profit groups mostly managed by young women ages 25 and below from all walks of life and ethnic groups (see page 3).
MYVIPs, YG-Hype, MsiaBB1ST and @BigBangMalaysia were among the groups that participated in the cheering projects.
“We spent the first month drafting ideas and recruiting committee members. We met at least twice a month to discuss matters such as the list of merchandise to sell to raise funds,” says Zaty.
Gathering fans to welcome Big Bang had been an invaluable learning experience for the fan clubs.
Graphic designer Audrey Liew from YG-Hype — a fanbase for artistes under the YG Entertainment label including Big Bang — never imagined that she would design a bus advertisement.
“I’ve never done it before so that was something new for me,” says the 23-year-old.
The group also learned to follow the proper channel when planning their projects to avoid legal complications.
“Our friend, a law student, advised us to get a written consent from Big Bang’s management agency regarding the bus advertisement as it involves using its copyrighted photo,” says Zaty.
The group went ahead with the plan only after receiving the record label’s permission.
Liew gained public relations and marketing skills through the exercise.
“We learned to communicate effectively with local and international fans, concert organisers, advertisement companies and record labels.”
“(The bus company) told us that this is the first time anyone outside of a corporate organisation had approached it to put an advertisement,” she adds.
Their time management skills were also put to the test during those hectic 16 weeks.
“It was tough dividing time between work and preparing for the concert. But we did well because we had each other’s backs,” says Liew, who is proficient in Korean.
The fan clubs’ dedication to ensuring that the 18,000 fans — the largest turnout for the tour outside of Japan — had the best concert experience inadvertently promoted volunteerism among Malaysian K-pop fans.
When they appealed for 30 volunteers from the Klang Valley to help out on the concert day, hundreds of fans nationwide offered their assistance.
That is the beauty of K-pop and its fans, say Zaty and Liew.
“My K-pop friends are a good influence on me. We don’t loiter aimlessly and we come from different fields such as art and design, engineering and law,” says Liew.
Zaty agrees, adding that she is proud to have many friends globally because of K-pop.
“I used to be a homebody and had few friends. Now I travel a lot and I don’t have to worry about lodging because there is always someone offering me a place to stay. I would do the same if they were to visit Malaysia,” she says.
Both Zaty and Liew had resigned from their respective posts recently to let younger fans gain similar experiences.
“Maybe they have better ideas for future projects,” says Zaty.
The two buddies can retire comfortably knowing that their hard work was also appreciated by their idols.
During the concert, group leader G-Dragon said that he noticed “the photos, banners and bus”.
“I saw them all. Thank you. You are the best,” he said.
More than fan-fare
Running a fan club may sound glamorous and fun but it is pure hard work.
Take it from Zaty Aziz who recently retired from being an administrator for MYVIPs, a Malaysian fan club for South Korean boy band Big Bang.
Previously, she was project manager and global moderator for BBVIP, an international fan club.
The 25-year-old aircraft technician recalls coming home from working 12-hour shifts to answer hundreds of emails from fans about official merchandise and other enquiries.
“I spent three hours commuting by public transport to my workplace in Sepang daily. I had to switch to ‘fan club administrator’ mode when I got home after a long day at work.”
After a week of repeating the routine on very little sleep, Zaty fell ill and couldn’t get out of bed for three days.
But Zaty would not trade her experience as an administrator for anything.
If she had not joined BBVIP, she would not have met like-minded friends from all over the world or gained the experience needed to plan and execute cheering projects for the recent Big Bang Alive Tour in Kuala Lumpur.
“My role at BBVIP was to monitor conversations on the forum and to think of special projects for occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries,” she says.
When Big Bang became popular in Malaysia after releasing their single Haru Haru (Day By Day) in 2008, Zaty was recruited to be an administrator for MYVIPs where she updated news of the group on an online forum.
As articles are often written in Korean, Japanese and Chinese, administrators proficient in those languages would translate these into English or Malay for local fans.
Audrey Liew, a former administrator for YG-Hype — a fan base for artistes under the YG Entertainment label including Big Bang — says fan clubs also coordinate bulk purchases for fans when artistes release new albums or official merchandise.
With the advent of social networking tools, administrators who travel abroad to watch concerts of their idols provide live Facebook and Twitter updates.
Zaty kept her Twitter followers updated on every crucial moment onstage while watching Big Bang’s concert at Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan recently.
Such Tweets would then be retweeted by other fan clubs worldwide.
Fan clubs are busiest in the months leading to the arrival of a K-pop star.
“As the fan clubs are scattered, we make it a point to collaborate with other groups. Some of them may not have enough manpower and resources to carry out projects on their own. So why not work together? YG-Hype has the power to do that being a fan club that supports many artistes under one record label,” she says.
After the projects were over, the moderators returned to managing their own fanbases.
Every year, most fan clubs make an effort to conduct annual gatherings, often at Korean eateries, to allow members to network.
“Our idols don’t come to Malaysia often so we do other things during those slow periods,” says Liew.
Credit: Suzieana Uda Nagu
Source: New Straits Times
P/S: I am still new in administering this fan blog. If you guys want to share something on Big Bang, please feel free to email me at kiranaku_bersatu@hotmail.com . Any comments or suggestion are really appreciated. Thanks! (Admin Bai)
