Seoul, Korea – CJ E&M is expanding its character business in Korea, thanks to the representation agreement it signed with DreamWorks Animation recently.
Through the arrangement, CJ E&M will market DreamWorks’ character products through numerous distribution channels of CJ Group, especially through TV home shopping channel CJ O Shopping, as well as health and beauty retailer Olive Young, which usually targets young adult consumers in their 20’s and 30’s. This is expected to create a new business model for merchandising animation characters in Korea.
DreamWorks appeals to consumers of all ages, as it understands growth potential of the global market, estimated to be worth about 160.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2015. Against this backdrop, the latest DreamWorks-CJ E&M arrangement means a great deal to both companies.
“We are creating significant synergy effects through our arrangement with DreamWorks. We plan to enhance the brand’s competitiveness and increase business profitability by customising DreamWorks’ character products to meet the needs of Korean consumers,” said Ji-Soo Han, head of the animation business division at CJ E&M.
“At DreamWorks, we have been focused on aligning with the best agencies around the world to represent the wealth of our intellectual property,” said Jo Pascoe, Head of DreamWorks Consumer Products APAC. “We are thrilled to be working with CJ E&M, A strategic partner who has already leveraged their affiliate brands and companies to deliver compelling product and will certainly maximise our licensing business in Korea.”
CJ E&M has already launched DreamWorks’ licensed apparel through CJ O Shopping’s Celeb Shop, and it was featured on lifestyle network OnStyle’s Korea’s Next Top Model. DreamWorks beauty collection kit is also on sale at Olive Young. In particular, facial masks, ‘I’m the Real SHREK Pack’ and ‘I’m the Real SHREK Hydrogel Mask’ were sold out only one month after their launch and recently ranked bestseller in the category.
CJ E&M’s animation business division was established in January, 2015. It carries out a range of business in animation such as development, production and distribution of content, while operating licensing and character merchandising business.
