SNSD refuses to answer questions about KARA during Japanese press conference

Recently, SNSD encountered some rude reporters who asked the girls for a statement on the on-going dispute between KARA and DSP Media.

Japan’s Sankei Sports reported on February 22nd, “During the press conference for their first Japanese commercial shoot, SNSD became upset over a barrage of questions regarding the issue of KARA’s possible divide.”

SNSD was holding a press conference for their CM with ‘e-ma Nodame‘, their first Japanese commercial since their debut. After discussing the advertisements, reporters then unleashed a flood of questions about SNSD’s fellow Hallyu group, KARA. They asked, “What do you think about the dismantling of KARA?”, “You don’t think KARA will disband, do you?”, and “Does SNSD have a good relationship with their agency?”, surprising and upsetting the SNSD members.

To these sudden questions, SNSD displayed a perplexed expression, and the members eventually had to leave the event without answering.

Although it was an upsetting experience, fans are cheering on the girls as they plan to unveil their CM (titled “Girls’ Dinner) on February 26th in Japan.

YoonA shakes hands with Se7en?

A recent photo of SNSD’s YoonA has confirmed her status as a fangirl of Se7en’s.

Uploaded onto an online community site, netizens laughed as they saw YoonA shaking hands withSe7en’s life-sized, cardboard doppleganger.

The picture was taken when YoonA paid a visit to the grand opening of Se7en’s steamed chickenrestaurant, Yeolbong with fellow SM labelmate, BoA.

Fans commented, “YoonA is a celebrity herself.. she must be a hardcore fan”, “YoonA goddess. She’s pretty even though her face is hidden”, and “I’m more envious of the paper board version of Se7en.”

SNSD at Ema Throat Candy press conference!

Here is a photo of SNSD at the press conference of Ema Throat Candy.

The girls were announced as the endorsers of the throat candy yesterday and the CF has been unveiled as well.

This is SNSD's first CF in Japan,hope that the girls will receive more love in Japan in the future.

SNSD's Yoona spotted holding Se7en's hand?

The photo of YoonA paying a visit to Se7en’s restaurant was shared on the internet recently.

On an online community, a post entitled, “YoonA was caught alone with Se7en” was published. However, do not be alarmed because YoonA was posing with a huge standing image of Se7en outside his restaurant, Yeolbong. In the photo, YoonA who dressed casually posed with a smile while shaking ‘Se7en”s hand.

Operating in Yeoksam-dong and Shinsa-dong in Seoul, Se7en’s steamed chicken restaurant, Yeolbong had received visits from a lot of celebrities besides YoonA. On February 21st at around 10pm KST, Rain tweeted, “Today we visited our dongsaeng’s (younger brother’s) restaurant”. Among other celebrities who had visited Yeolbong are So Yoojin, Park Hanbyul, Lee Jung, Shim Taeyoon, Yoo Inna, BoA, SHINee’s Onew, Yoon Eunhye, etc.

SM Entertainment accepted Mnet’s apology

SM Entertainment will resume the supply of their music to Mnet.com from February 21st onwards.

A representative of SM Entertainment said on February 21st, “Mnet.com which is operated by Mnet Media had conveyed their apology to SM Entertainment for distributing music without our approval and they have also promised to prevent the recurrence of such actions. Mnet.com’s determination and effort to restore trust among the two sides had led to a mutual agreement”.

The representative added, “We have decided to resume the supply of our music to Mnet.com in order to provide music consumers with more convenience and enjoyment and at the same time, enhancing the online music market. In the future, we plan to work closely with Mnet Media on various music business related matters”.

Songs from SM Entertainment’s artistes such as TVXQ, SNSD, etc will be available on Mnet.com again, starting from February 21st.

SBS-CNBC interview with Intel Korea SNSD, the faces of Intel Asia

On SBS-CNBC News aired on February 21st, an interview with Intel Korea’s Mr. Han In Soo was carried out to talk about SNSD as Intel Asia’s new faces and the collaboration between Hallyu and IT. Here are the contents of the interview.

SBS-CNBC: SNSD had performed for Intel on January 18th when they were promoting their new product. Also, music video of SNSD in collaboration with Intel has been revealed. I heard the reaction was great, was it?

Han: Yes it was. The music video’s title is “Visual Dreams”. It received great attentions and appreciation online. Even though January 18th was a cold day, many reporters still reported about the event. Over 200 reporters have attended the event.

SBS-CNBC: What were the reports mainly about?

Han: Many of them focused on the financial value and marketing effects. The news of SNSD and Intel was even on MBC 9 o’ Clock news. The main things reported was this - ‘Our nation’s girl group have gone beyond hallyu and entered the world marketing models’. To illustrate further – ‘our nation’s girl groups have international effect through online and social media. Therefore, they are receiving global industries’ love calls’. The news also talked about - ‘With SNSD modeling for Intel as a start, girl groups’ financial values are starting to rise’. Financial Today published articles about ‘IT Brands, How Much Financial Effect Will It Receive From Collaborating With Hallyu Idols?’ and also – ‘The first experiment of this marketing strategy will be Intel’.

SBS-CNBC: Well, besides the financial values, what else is attracting the public’s attentions?

Han: eToday reported ‘Industries are eager to model girl groups to approach the ‘Younger Generations”. It was a report about how industries have raised their image through online marketing and social networking. Especially B2B industries are focusing on promotions for 2nd time customers, not 1st time customers. Also, the fact that industries (that does not make complete products) are strengthening their public relations have caught attention. Intel was used an example as this. The fact that Intel produces CPU, but still chose SNSD as their model was very ‘shocking’.

SBS-CNBC: So far, how is the effect of using SNSD as a marketing strategy? Even though it might be hard to say considering it has only been 1 month since their collaboration.

Han: Because this marketing strategy has just recently set off, so I can’t tell you the effect exactly. However, about a month after SNSD started modeling for Intel, ‘HanGook KyungJae’ talked about SNSD’s marketing results. It’s pretty interesting. “‘Visual Dreams’, a song composed to promote Intel, has reached 5 million clicks just in their official website.” Also, they reported, ‘Just 48hours after the release of the music video, it reached 1 Million views’. The reports were mainly stating the effect was favorable. Such a result was probably possible because of online communication and the use of entertainment to garner the interest among the younger generations.

SBS-CNBC: Then what do you think can be concluded through SNSD and Intel’s collaboration?

Han: By summarizing the things above, major presses talk about 3 things from this collaboration. First, it is a known fact that K-Pop has a great effect in Asia, and global industries further confirmed this fact by selecting girl groups as their models. Secondly, industries have started to take actions to approach the younger generations. Lastly, K-Pop great effect has went oversea and became global. Also, considering Intel only released SNSD’s music video only online and not on TV commercials, Intel is mainly focusing on using online communities to globally promote themselves.

SBS-CNBC: We believe that now SNSD’s marketing activities in Asian region have also started.

Han: Now, the marketing activities for the Asian region in Taiwan and other Asian countries have begun. yesterday, I got in touch with the public relations representative for Taiwan and I was told that currently, SNSD’s music videos and advertisement pictures are rapidly spreading and shared across the region through the internet. We are also thankful to have received some constructive and helpful e-mails. From the entertainment industry’s point of view, participation of global companies as advertisers seems to be greatly welcomed. We hope that this sort of collaboration would enhance the entertainment industry as well as the Korean wave. The Intel-SNSD collaboration marketing in each Asian region is the beginning. The huge success of this global marketing will not only bring good news to SNSD’s fans but also to many other parties.

SNSD landed first CF deal in Japan

On February 21st in Tokyo, SNSD attended the new CF (or CM) launching for ‘UHA Mikatuko’s e-ma Throat Candy‘.

In commemoration of UHA Mikatuko’s e-ma Throat Candy’s 10th Anniversary, the company have appointed SNSD as CF ‘characters’ for their new product ‘Melting Peach‘. This is the first time SNSD got selected for a Japanese CF. The girls appeared at the press conference in one-piece laced dress with high heels, revealing the flawless legs.

At the press conference, Yuri said, “”I feel the happiest when I’m on the stage with all of our members. This year, we want to conduct a nation-wide concert tour in Japan. Also, we want to see our fans from all over the world”.

On the other hand, the CF deal was something special for Sunny. She explained, “When I was a kid, I visited Japan and ate e-ma throat candies. They were so good that I fell in love with the candies. I love them since then. I was really happy when I heard we would appear on the CF of the candies”.

On the shooting of the CF, YoonA commented with a smile,”It feels really good to be able to shoot in such a beautiful set”. In a talkshow, ‘behind the scenes’ of the CF shooting were also featured.

The CF entitled ‘Girls’ Dinner’ will be aired in Japan from February 26th onwards where viewers will be witnessing the the girls in cute costumes and some creative settings. The CF depicts how the girls are being captivated by the e-ma throat candy which falls from the sky.

SNSD flaunt their unique charms for Cosmopolitan

Recently, Yuri, Jessica, Tiffany, Sooyoung, Sunny and Hyoyeon participated in photo shoots for Cosmopolitan, showcasing their unique individual charm and beauty.

For the photo shoots, Sooyoung put on a white goddess dress, Sunny with silk Hawaiian-style mini dress while Tiffany selected a classic black-pattern material tote bag to go with her image.

Hyoyeon who revealed a more matured, charming side of her through the pictorials said, “I really like how the red bag which gives out the sexy and rock feel matches well with the romantic charm of the whole thing”. Mstooeanwhile, Jessica showed her charm in classic signature collections with elegant and cute poses.

Fans will be able to see the girls with their own individual unique charms in the March edition of Cosmopolitan.

Japanese baseball players put SNSD and Kara’s songs on repeat at spring camp

Korean girl groups are hot favorites at the Spring Camp of Japanese professional baseball team, Oryx Buffaloes.

Oryx team members are having their spring camp at Miyako-jima and medley of Korean girl groups’ songs especially those which are highly popular in Japan such as Kara’s ‘Mister’, SNSD’s ‘Tell Me Your Wish (Genie)’ and Brown Eyed Girls’ ‘Abracadabra’ were played repeatedly.

The team are basically broken into two groups. When players in Group 2 (mostly young players) were asked about each of their favorite Korean girl group, they smiled. Most of them chose Kara and SNSD.

A player from Group 2 said, “Most of the players here have Kara’s songs stored in their iPods”. When he was asked the reason for liking Kara, he answered, “They have sexy dance steps” and did a parody of Kara’s ‘butt dance’.