'Fandom Economy' Growth Confidence Spurs Startup
Business Opens with Est?e Lauder Contract
9.5 Billion KRW Investment Raised... 20 Billion KRW Sales Target
As individual tastes and preferences diversify, consumers have become more discerning when choosing brands. This is true even for cosmetics. In the past, people bought products after seeing advertisements featuring high-profile celebrities, but now they check reviews from influencers they like before making a purchase. Without even visiting a store, they can conveniently buy products through live broadcasts on their smartphones while enjoying various benefits.
Ice Creative is a company that transforms the human IP (intellectual property) of influencers and creators into brands. They launched a sunscreen product featuring illustrations by their affiliated beauty webtoon artist 'Doenda' (real name Jung Nayoung), which sold out in just 1 hour and 30 minutes, causing a frenzy. They also held Doenda’s offline solo exhibition to interact directly with the audience and produced an animation based on her original work. Last month, Doenda opened a channel under her own name on Naver Shopping Live and recorded sales exceeding 100 million won from the very first broadcast.
Kim Eunha, CEO of Ice Creative, said in an interview at the company’s headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul on the 17th, "We are forming a 'fandom economy' that creates value across various fields, going beyond simply connecting celebrities and advertisers."
CEO Kim discovered her entrepreneurial spirit early on while running an art academy for college entrance exams during her university days. Through experiences at companies like Neowiz, famous for SayClub, and OnMedia, she realized the importance of digital content. After OnMedia merged with CJ E&M in 2011, she operated the beauty information app 'Beauty in Me,' where she met various creators.
Recognizing the importance of the influence of individuals, or 'manpower,' Kim started her own business after leaving her job in 2017. She said, "While feeling the limitations of large corporate systems, I was confident that creating a fandom economy would allow us to develop a differentiated business." With diverse experience, know-how, and a strong network, she secured a contract worth 80 million won from the global cosmetics company Est?e Lauder, opening the door to her business. In the fourth quarter of the founding year alone, she achieved sales of 560 million won. The following year, annual sales reached 6 billion won, and this year, they expect 20 billion won.
CEO Kim, who puts great effort into building trust with creators, currently has exclusive contracts with 37 creator teams. She said, "To turn creators into brands and maintain long-term relationships, we established a data-driven management system that includes regular goal management, recent trends, and trend analysis." Ice Creative’s first private brand 'hakit' recently celebrated its first anniversary. They are expanding hakit’s sales channels by entering online platforms such as W Concept, Musinsa, and Olive Young.
Ice Creative raised 6 billion won in Series A funding from Sandbox Network in 2019, and this year received bridge investments from Amorepacific and the Next Generation Content Private Equity Fund, bringing the total accumulated investment to 9.5 billion won. CEO Kim stated, "Network marketing and fandom business have great potential and a clear vision. We want to discover and manage more diverse human IPs and become a company that returns the profits generated to consumers."
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