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'The World Ep 1 Movement': Ateez tease new album, fans impressed by 'guerrilla marketing'

Fans are in awe, 'Companies are usually scared to go this extreme but Ateez has shown...their art and story is more important than playing it safe'

Ateez has one of the most interesting storylines among K-pop groups and the way they weave it into their concepts, songs, music videos and performances always have Atinys (Ateez’s fans) impressed. From creating choreography for award show stages that call back to their metaverse to bringing the storyline to their ‘Kingdom’ performances, Ateez keeps fans on their toes. And Atinys had their minds blown when they realized that Ateez had hinted at their upcoming album 'The World Ep.1: Movement’ way back in 2021 with their ‘Rhythm Ta’ performance on ‘Kingdom’.

Ateez’s storyline has several interpretations. But what fans know is that in the ‘Treasure’ album series, Ateez’s rival was initially the dark version of Ateez aka Halateez introduced in ‘Hala Hala’. They then team up to fight the actual antagonist – The Masked Man. For the ‘Zero: Fever’ album series released in 2020, Ateez is stuck in a parallel universe that was first introduced in ‘Illusion’. Well, it looks like the K-pop group is moving on to a new plot arc with a third album series ‘The World’ which was announced in the most novel way – through guerrilla marketing during their world tour in April.

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Ateez use guerrilla marketing for new comeback

Ateez began the European leg of their second world tour in April in Madrid and fans noticed posters stuck on walls and fliers passed out on the streets. These posters were full of Halateez and captioned “Wake up wake up, world / Ateez / Are you there? It’s time.” They continued with this guerrilla marketing on the streets of Seoul in the last week of June. We got wanted posters for Halateez and QR codes labeled as ‘Propaganda’ that they later deleted, playing with the rebellion theme.

Ateez also released a teaser video which shows a PSA by the Masked Man playing in a surveillance room. These confusing teasers have led to Atiny Twitter being rife with theories about 'The World Ep.1: Movement’ album and linking it to past comebacks. With K-pop comeback announcements first and foremost being about making the release successful and reaching out to as many people as it can, Atinys are in awe with Ateez for going for an unconventional tactic.

With guerrilla marketing being all about spreading information through word of mouth and being inaccessible to non-fans who do not understand Ateez’s lore, fans commend the group’s dedication to furthering their storyline even with the promotional strategies. Detective Atinys are linking the guerrilla strategy to what Halateez must be doing in 'The World Ep.1: Movement’ to spread the word about their rebellion without the Masked Man finding out.

‘They’re an underground rebel movement’

'The World Ep.1: Movement’ is set to release on July 29. Ateez has been trending for days now as fans are trying to make sense of the teasers, “The theme of this comeback will be: ateez are rebels, the rebel youth, representative of the modern youth in today’s society—uprising and spreading truth even when the government tries to silence them… they’re rebel youth for the people.” One joked, “ATEEZ is not a KPOP group, at this point they’re an underground rebel movement.”

Another Atiny wondered, “If kq and ateez can really pull off a full guerilla advertisement, it would shock the kpop industry. I wonder how far they will take this.” One fan shared, “OMGGGG ATEEZ’S COMEBACK PROMO IS LIKE GUERRILLA MARKETING AND IM LOSING MY SHIT CAUSE I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS TYPE OF MARKETING AND DESIGN AKDJCJCJCKV.” Another Atiny flexed, “Is your ult group using guerrilla marketing to promote their anarchy/alt universe/resistance comeback? mine is.”

One pointed out, “I'm actually obsessed with what ateez/kq have done with the marketing for this cb so far. Guerrilla marketing was such a smart choice since it fits with their storyline so well. It's so cool and such a fun way to get fans engaged.” Another Atiny was impressed, “I commend Ateez and KQ. I've never seen THIS in Kpop before. It feels more like an ARG than cb campaign. Companies are usually to scared to go this extreme. But Ateez has shown from the beginning, their art and story is more important than playing it safe.”