Well, kpop finally hit the country I live in! (Belgium: the land with a language barrier, best fries, best chocolat and best beer. To many other country's simply known for its capitol: Brussels!) 
It's mostly about 2ne1 but there is a mention of "up to 13 members a group" and we all know which group that would be xD

http://www.standaard.be/artikel/detail.aspx?artikelid=BLSPA_20120618_001&utm_source=nieuwsblad&utm_medium=artikel&utm_campaign=crosspromo&utm_source=nieuwsblad&utm_medium=artikel&utm_campaign=crosspromo

TRANSLATION:

DO YOU KNOW K-POP?!

A big commotion and hordes of screaming fans at the croisette today, because CL, Minzy (spelled Minzy wrong >.>), Dara and Bom have landed. Does the group make spontaneously shout a salvo of OMG OMG OMG's , then you probably haven't heard of the phenomenon that is called K-POP

K-pop is a Korean pop music genre. Boy bands and girl band, just like in the '90, but more extreme. Groups don't exist out of, for example, 4 but out of more then 13 members. Songs won't be added at the back of commercials, but at the start as designed by the marketing departments, including a product that is linked to every member, a dance on youtube which everyone can imitate, over the top chorus to which everyone can shout along if you can speak Korean or not and a video that like a hyper-stylized esthetic train accident: You can not look away from. If pop is sugar, then K-pop is brown sugar: intense, addictive and for all your senses. 

The K-pop sensation that mounted the stage of Cannes Lions is called 2ne1 (read: twenty one). Their first hit wasn't released as a single, but as a soundtrack for rampage for LG electronics. The video of their most recent hit ('I Am The Best') has at this moment reached more the 45 million views (!) and that is only at the official youtube channel. Not a single person knows how many views that are in total.

Those are numbers any brand would spontaneously hyperventilate for, it is only logical that they are invited to this party marketing creativity, but then again there is the question 'How to make this more viral?' that would resonate trough hallway's. Alas, the reading of the K-pop management and strategist turned out to be a lame sales pitch (quote from the band members: You are not just a great singer, you are also a real athlete, is that right?”- pffffffft)

The secret to the success was not revealed. Yes, these girls have a reality show where fans can see their idols every day as 'real people'. Yes everything happens digitally. Yes, social media is around, day and night. But which which pop group doesn’t? What does make K-pop so different is the extreme: 13 band mates with five different looks existing out of around 10 brands and accessories in every video clip. Each song has a dance, each dance has an instruction video. You where looking for 'stories'? Well, here you can have a 3 minuted strong overdoses in one shot.

(I think the translation is about right... and yes belgium medie alway's sounds like it has this degrading/critisizing sound to it. It's just how our country is >.> A lot of talk, not so many actions... we have  lived without a government for a couple of years thanks to that mentality >.<)