Le Sserafim and Their Peers Are Flipping the Script on US K-Pop Brand Deals

Okay-pop is having a second within the U.S., and types wish to share the mic.Reside touring income from the style jumped 79% yr over yr within the first half of 2025, in response to Billboard, with supergroups like Stray Children and Ateez promoting out American stadiums. Okay-pop artists additionally dominated the charts, claiming half of the highest 10 best-selling bodily albums within the U.S., in response to leisure insights firm Luminate.The style has additionally made its mark at among the nation’s greatest music festivals during the last two years, with acts like Enhypen, TXT, Le Sserafim, and Twice acting at Coachella and Lollapalooza.On display, Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters shattered data because the streamer’s most-watched movie ever, with its soundtrack charting at primary within the States.Manufacturers like Samsung and Mattel moved quick to money in on the movie’s hype. Now, because the style additional cements its maintain on U.S. tradition, a brand new era of Okay-pop acts is rewriting the foundations of brand name collaboration. Co-creating merchandise and inking significant partnerships with homegrown manufacturers.In 2024, group TXT teamed up with Common Mills for limited-edition cereal packing containers that includes the band members’ faces, collectibles that followers snapped up immediately. Walmart has leaned into the area with its Okay-Pop Personalization Studio, a roving cell bus that pulls up exterior live performance stops.The Empire State Constructing has grow to be one other marquee stage for Okay-pop activations too. In October, it turned orange for Riize’s tour.Deeper partnershipsAs advertisers look past one-off endorsements, Okay-pop’s subsequent era is displaying how collaboration can deepen fandom and model loyalty.Globally, the Okay-pop market was valued at $8.1 billion in 2021 and is projected to achieve $20.0 billion by 2031 with an estimated development of seven.3% yearly, per Allied Market Analysis.Okay-pop acts have been breaking into the American mainstream since boy band BTS’s 2020 album “Map of the Soul: 7,” turned the primary within the style to promote a million pure copies within the U.S. Since 2021, the band has labored with Mars Sweet and launched their very own McDonald’s meal. The band’s BT21 cartoon figures have appeared on merchandise starting from Crocs and Converse to Dunkin’ Donuts, too.Lady group Le Sserafim are cementing themselves as a fan favourite in America, too, constructing a legion of loyal followers dubbed “Fearnots.” The five-member group—Kim Chaewon, Sakura, Huh Yunjin, Kazuha, and Hong Eunchae—debuted in Could 2022 with their album “Fearless” and have since appeared on the U.S. Billboard 200 5 instances and the Billboard Prime 100 twice.Partnerships with U.S. manufacturers have been laced all through Le Sserafim’s first U.S. tour, together with a sold-out capsule clothes assortment with NYC model Guizio. Amazon Music pop-ups in Los Angeles and Seattle drew a whole lot of followers, some lining up as early as 2 a.m.Guizio’s collaboration with Le Sserafim “Our strategy to artist merchandise collaborations is as distinctive because the artists themselves,” Julia Heiser, head of Amazon Music reside merch, informed ADWEEK. “Le Sserafim has cultivated a particular aesthetic that resonates deeply with their fanbase.”As Okay-pop expands into new markets, manufacturers have limitless engagement alternatives because of the fixed stream of latest teams debuting, and Amazon Music’s collab marked its first with a Okay-pop lady group. MinJi Joo, a contract artistic model strategist and advisor, defined, “Okay-pop is a machine the place it’s as if there’s a brand new group debuting on daily basis.” A worldwide strategyBehind Okay-pop’s international dazzle is a rigorous trainee system the place aspiring idols spend years mastering vocals, choreography, and manufacturing. Already in 2025, greater than 50 new teams have launched.In South Korea, idols are seen as position fashions. Their polished picture and highly effective affect make them very best model companions, Joo famous. And, U.S. manufacturers aren’t simply chasing Okay-pop’s home followers; they’re leveraging the style’s international attain. Amongst them is the NBA, which has labored with quite a few Okay-pop idols for the previous decade at house and within the Asia Pacific (APAC) area. In 2016, Got7 and Twice modeled streetwear items representing groups just like the Chicago Bulls, the Cleveland Cavaliers, and the Brooklyn Nets.Whereas the NBA is rooted within the U.S., its international attain has grown considerably lately. “As a model that’s deeply embedded in tradition, we’ve been capable of discover working with celebrities and influencers in [APAC] and world wide,” Sheila Rasu, vp, head of selling for NBA Asia, mentioned. “Collaborating with Okay-pop artists has grow to be a pure extension of the NBA’s international fan engagement technique.”Le Sserafim’s NBA partnership advanced organically. After attending a Lakers sport in 2023 carrying personalised jerseys from the model, followers dubbed them a “fortunate allure” and started carrying NBA jerseys to live shows. The group embraced the partnership, performing in NBA jerseys earlier than being appointed “Buddies of the NBA” in 2024 underneath a multi-year deal. This system enlists celebrities and influencers, together with Enhypen and BTS’s Suga, to spice up the league’s visibility throughout APAC by way of appearances, occasions, and content material. “The passion from Okay-pop followers displays how the NBA’s cultural impression extends past the courtroom,” mentioned Rasu. “Le Sserafim are co-creators of a cultural second the place music, style, and sports activities intersect.”A New EraWith Okay-pop now an export as highly effective as tech or leisure, its artists have gotten case research in constructing engaged, worthwhile communities.The style’s followers are placing their cash the place their fandom is. 4 in 5 within the U.S. bought a Okay-pop file final yr, whereas 74% purchased albums to gather, in response to Billboard.In an announcement, Supply Music, Le Sserafim’s label, mentioned authenticity is central to each partnership determination its bands make, and the artists agree.For Le Sserafim’s Yunjin (a New York native), supportive audiences took among the strain off their first U.S. tour.When requested if she had a message for followers, she informed ADWEEK, “You guys despatched us a lot love and assist that you simply turned our concern into pleasure and a stronger sense of duty. We promise to be again on tour, however till then, please sit up for our new music.”That new music is available in a recent single, Spaghetti, which options J-hope of BTS. Le Sserafim member Chaewon mentioned the tune “marks the subsequent chapter in our story that captures our development as artists and the brand new modifications we’re prepared to point out our audiences.”U.S. companions desirous to work carefully with artists and audiences to construct deeper connections, will edge forward in Okay-pop’s battle of the manufacturers.