POP!: Celebrating a world of everything wired, weird, and wonderful
From music, art, literature, fashion, films, tech, lifestyle, celebrity life, history, social issues, internet culture, and everything that trends in the mainstream and cyberculture that shape our opinions and give (fun and insightful) meaning to even the most mundane of things—that’s POP! in a nutshell.
InqPOP, its brand name stylized as POP!, is the pop culture channel of one of the Philippines’ most reputable news organizations, INQUIRER.net. It’s a one-stop-shop for the latest news in the realm of pop culture, internet culture, and everything fun, weird, and wired. POP! has grown to be one of the most sought-after sections within the INQUIRER.net umbrella that continues to amass millions of page views on web, and hundreds of thousands of video views on its multimedia story presentations that pique the interests of its audience, making it a dynamic contributor to the monthly traffic and revenue of INQUIRER.net.
Though aimed primarily at Gen Z and Millennial readers, POP!’s coverage of important pop culture history, information, and entertainment are aimed to be relatable to every generation who have access to the internet. POP! has a way of connecting with its audience through its creative presentation of news and information, visuals, and even perspectives told in poignant, uncomplicated, serious, and even comical ways.
The Beninggening
People who have followed POP! since 2013 know that the platform used to merely be a minor part of INQUIRER.net and was formerly called InquirerEX, a subsection for ad materials and advertorials. This idea stemmed from the time when INQUIRER.net’s sales and marketing department piloted a background study among its readers, in which it showed that readers were likely to respond adversely to any hard sell ad content that’s directly rammed down their throats, so to speak, by the news brand. The team eventually agreed to allocate a space exclusive for ads and marketing materials within the same digital ground of the media outlet, thereby becoming sort of an executioner of campaigns. When the team started noticing a growing community responding actively towards some of their press releases published on InquirerEX, they decided to start creating editorial content to supplement the paid releases, as well as to put more depth to the title. From that unassuming concept, the Sales and Marketing team rebranded InquirerEX to POP!, which has since evolved to not only be a pop culture channel with compelling content, but also an effective advertising platform for today’s advertisers. All in all, POP! is a force to be reckoned with in the digital publishing space geared towards young audiences.
This continues to surprise many--POP! is actually operated by the same team of hardworking and first-rate young professionals from BrandRoom (the award-winning in-house creatives and native advertising unit of the sales and marketing department of INQUIRER.net), who are all with comprehensive and authoritative knowledge and expertise in the fields of advertising, communication, marketing, multimedia, and journalism. Small wonder, then, why the brand has been conferred with industry awards before, which the team wants to have more of in the coming years.
We’re a bee-yu-tiful butterfly
What started as an exploratory page, carrying a unique tone and vibe (which is a far cry from the long-established character of the Inquirer brand), has grown into an unorthodox way of retelling digital news stories infused with pop culture narratives that perfectly meld significant socio-cultural trivia of the past and today’s contemporary culture.
The goal of POP! has always been to foster readership and solidify affinity with its core audience thus, it has gone through tremendous changes to cater to every individual’s own preferred pop culture menu. Aiming to grow side by side with its loyal patrons, the POP! channel features stories on Asian culture, geek and nerd culture, internet culture, social commentaries, general humor, and everything in between, cutting across age, gender, political leaning, and religion.
The exclamation point in its branding is perhaps the best way to represent POP! and its community—they are always on the lookout for something that excites and tickles the minds of its audience. There’s always just something about content that allows readers from various communities to bond over a diverse range of articles that anyone could relate to, and that is exactly what the channel wants to embody with that exclamation point in its name.
The stylized exclamation mark is part of the brand logo and symbolizes the strong enthusiasm of the title for anything and everything it believes in.
This exclamation point is also a call-to-action to the avid readers of POP to pay close attention to the issues faced by our society. Problems of the past may come up as problems of the present, but these can be resolved little by little through awareness. POP!’s purpose is to provide an avenue for people to become aware of what is happening in the world, in the hopes of creating spaces for readers to voice out opinions of their own.
Basically, POP! wants you to be amazed! To be entertained! To care and pay attention to what’s happening in the world! To hear what it has to say!
Putting the spotlight on people and topics that matter
POP! has developed a diverse set of content offerings that have been polished over time. On social media, it has an active web series called POP! Bio, which chronicles the journeys of individuals who have done extremely well in their professions, or those with unusual hobbies, talents, collections, or characters to show to the world. New on the block is The Art Of, also a web series featuring Filipino artists with very interesting forms of art to talk about. Twice weekly, POP! features performances billed as POP! Sessions (for music artists) or POP! Hangout (for celebrities, personalities, and influencers, streamed live via its Facebook page. This streaming show has grown into a virtual stage not just for artists and celebrities to get their promotions across, but also an effective showcase for product placements, brand mentions, sponsorship, event promotions and in-video ads. It has helped the team nurture strong relationships with record labels and event promoters. The channel also produces POP! Goes To, a web series that features POP-worthy locations, places, and events, for viewers and readers to try out for themselves.
The channel is also gearing up to launch a few new themed video series, which are slated for release still within 2022.
What’s poppin’ next
POP! recognizes how pop culture is so ingrained in our lives. This is why it consistently features the realest and simplest essence of pop culture: anything that people like and would want to remember.
Looking through society's lens, pop culture, in general, is most likely to experience a lot of modifications in the near future. What is adored now may no longer be relevant in the future; what is questioned right now may become tomorrow’s next best thing. Cognizant of how technology has altered the way people consume culture and how fleeting pop culture is, POP! is firm in its resolve to cover pop culture in ways that matter to its readers, and to grow alongside them. It remains driven to relentlessly offer something appropriate, relevant, interesting, quirky, and extraordinary.
Because, yes, POP! is here for the long haul.
Follow POP! on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok at @inqpop
