Competing in a Crowded Market Without a Clear Positioning
Kooky was positioned mainly as a K-pop voting platform, but the messaging focused on the feature rather than the value for fans. In an oversaturated market, it was not clear why users should choose Kooky or keep coming back.
Key Outcomes: 400K sign-ups · 1.4M votes · 500K+ impressions · 50K+ interactions
My Role
I led the audience research, ICP development, repositioning, campaign strategy, and cross-functional execution. (Kooky was one of my clients at Globalli)
Key insight
Through fan interviews, competitor research, behavioral data, and social listening, I found that fans of smaller and emerging K-pop groups were highly motivated but underserved.
Major fandoms already had plenty of ways to organize and support their artists. Smaller fandoms had fewer resources and fewer opportunities to create visible impact.
Positioning shift
Before: A K-pop voting platform
After: A platform that helps fans turn collective support into real-world recognition for their favorite artists
This connected the product to a meaningful customer outcome. Voting became the product mechanism, while artist recognition became the value proposition.
What I did
Over four months, I translated the research into a new audience strategy, positioning, messaging, and campaign model. The work culminated in a two-week live voting campaign built around tangible artist rewards, including billboard and subway advertising in Korea.
My work included:
- Defining the ICP, audience priorities, and core value proposition
- Developing the campaign concept and incentive structure from the research
- Creating the messaging architecture across the web app, in-app communications, and social channels
- Partnering with marketing and engineering to deliver the experience
- Improving platform readiness, bot controls, user guidance, and contingency communications after early demand exceeded capacity
Impact
- Generated 400K campaign sign-ups
- Drove 1.4M votes
- Produced 500K+ impressions and 50K+ interactions
- Increased the company’s social audience by 5×
- Created stronger traction and engagement proof points for partnerships, sales conversations, and fundraising
GTM activation
A two-week voting campaign with tangible rewards, supported by web app, in-app, and social messaging.
