KENAZ-IP-HOLDER

EVENT

2024-11-05

Global webtoon company Kenazu-Ono Korea to set up shop in Suncheon

Suncheon City (Mayor Noh Kwan-kyu) announced on the 3rd that it has simultaneously attracted the headquarters of webtoon company KENAZ and the Korean branch of Korean-French joint venture Ono Korea as the first and second companies that will be the first sign of fostering the cultural content industry, a key issue in the 8th civil election. At the 2024 Global Content Festival in Suncheon, held on the 3rd, representatives of the two companies that will relocate their headquarters to Suncheon signed a webtoon agreement at a ceremony to announce the relocation of KENAZ-Ono Korea.(Photo: Suncheon City) The attraction is a follow-up to the \'Suncheon City-Kenazu-France Ono\' business agreement signed in Annecy, France in June, and is the result of a \'trifecta\' of the city\'s steady efforts to attract companies, the needs of companies and writers who highly recognized the potential of Suncheon. At the \'2024 Global Content Festival in Suncheon\' event on March 3, the city announced the relocation of the headquarters with the participation of the Suncheon City Council and officials from both companies, and declared the future vision that Kennaz and Suncheon City will create together. After the animation and webtoon cluster project passed the central investment review of the Ministry of the Interior and Local Government Finance last month, the attraction of the headquarters of the two companies is expected to further accelerate the completion of K-Disney Suncheon, which Suncheon City has presented as its future vision. First, the Korean branch of Ono Korea, a joint venture between Kenaz and Ono, a subsidiary of French media content group MPP, will relocate to Suncheon by the end of the year from its headquarters in Seoul. The initial start-up team will be five people, with plans to expand to 20 people in stages. Kennaz, which has more than 450 webtoon writers and 250 IPs in Korea and abroad, will also relocate its headquarters and webtoon production bases currently located in Jeju Island and Seoul in stages by the first half of 2025. A total of 50 employees will be relocated. Once the relocation of the headquarters is finalized, various cooperative projects in the webtoon field, such as global webtoon production and distribution and a talent training academy, will be promoted in Suncheon together with Suncheon City and Ono Korea. \"One of the most favored careers for our children is the cultural content industry, such as webtoons and animation,\" said Noh Kwan-kyu, mayor of Suncheon City. \"We will actively support Kenaz and Ono Korea, which are moving their headquarters to Suncheon, to grow into solid local and global companies.\" \"Kenazu is the largest webtoon company in the world, and more than 450 writers have chosen Suncheon,\" said Lee Woo-jae, CEO of Kenazu. \"We would like to move our headquarters to Suncheon and contribute to making Suncheon a global webtoon mecca.\" \"Ono is a media group that has been producing manga, webtoons, and anime in France for the past 50 years, and French readers have recently begun to take an interest in Korean webtoons,\" said Ainara Ipas, representative of Ono France. \"With the support of Suncheon City and the Suncheon City Council, we hope to spread Korean webtoons to European readers and have the opportunity to meet Korean readers.\" Starting with this webtoon company, the city plans to actively attract 30 animation and webtoon companies that have expressed their intention to relocate to Suncheon. The city also plans to expand its efforts to attract content companies in various fields such as games, video, and AI. In addition, the city plans to build a virtuous cycle ecosystem by supporting relocated companies to settle and grow in the region, and resettled companies to recruit local talent to make Suncheon a global cultural industry mecca. [Straight News /Jeonnam=Baekhyung Lee] Copyright © Straight News All Rights Reserved Source : Straight News (https://www.straightnews.co.kr)

NEWS

2024-10-11

Suncheon Webtoon Makerthon Creation Camp with Webtoon Company Kennaz

Photo from the Suncheon Webtoon Camp. [Herald Economy (Suncheon) = Park Dae-sung Reporter] Suncheon City (Mayor Noh Kwan-kyu) will hold a webtoon makerathon at Green Island in Ocheon-dong for two days and one night from the 12th. Thirty prospective creators, who were selected through a 2-to-1 competition rate through advance participant recruitment, and six current expert mentors from KENAZ, a webtoon anchor company in the Suncheon Opportunity Development Zone, will participate. The Webtoon Makerthon is the first program of the Suncheon Road Creative Camp, a preliminary project for Korea\'s Cultural City, where participants will spend two days and one night creating webtoon plans based on inspiration from Suncheon. The program will consist of an inspirational tour of Suncheon Bay Wetland and Suncheon Bay National Garden, lectures and mentoring by current writers from KENAZ, and participants will come up with creative ideas at the venue set against the backdrop of Dongcheon and Green Island. The best eight proposals will be selected immediately after the end of the Maker Faire, and the winners will receive a creative support grant of 2 million won per project. The best proposals will have about a month to create a one-episode webtoon, and the submitted works will be evaluated by the public through NAVER Webtoon\'s \'Challenge Comics\' section, and the final three best works will be selected by summing up the evaluation scores of external experts and internal employees of Suncheon City. The finalists will receive a total prize of 10 million won, including 5 million won for first place, 3 million won for second place, and 2 million won for third place. An animation makerathon with another anchor company, Locus, will also be held from the 19th to the 20th. Makerathon, a combination of \'Make\' and \'Marathon\', is an event that provides materials, inspiration, mentorship, and space related to a topic and helps participants come up with creative ideas within a limited time.

NEWS

2024-07-16

Namyangju-Gyeongbok University, Department of Visual Media Contents, 'Kenaz Webtoon Academy' Completion Ceremony

Namyangju-Gyeongbok University-Kenazu \'Webtoon Academy\' graduation ceremony (Provided by Gyeongbok University) On the 11th, Namyangju City and Kyungpook National University held a graduation ceremony for the \'Kennaz Webtoon Academy\' at the Namyangju Campus Creative Center. As a department specializing in the field of realistic media contents (VR/AR/XR), the Department of Visual Media Contents at Kyungpook National University operates various realistic media contents training courses at the Media Art Center, which is equipped with state-of-the-art practice-oriented laboratories to foster practical talents specialized in the fields of video/3D/UX/UI/interaction of realistic media. According to the city, on May 24, it signed a three-way business agreement with Kyungpook National University and Kenaz Corporation (hereinafter referred to as \"Kenaz\") to revitalize Namyangju\'s future leading industries and link local youth employment and startups. ADVERTISEMENT As part of this, from June 17th to the 18th of this month, the \'Kennaz Webtoon Academy\' was opened to provide professional webtoon education to young people in Namyangju and students at Kyungpook National University, and a total of eight webtoon academy classes were held by writers Park Young-joon and Kim Si-ho from Kennaz. Outside of the Webtoon Academy lectures, the students were able to practice their skills on weekdays at Kyungpook National University\'s content production lab to develop their personal skills. Through the course, 10 of the 24 trainees who attended at least six of the eight classes completed the program, including five young people from Namyangju City, including students at Kyungpook National University. \"I thought I could only get webtoon training by traveling to Seoul, but it was great to be able to take the training in Jincheon-eup, which is close to my home, and the instructors were very helpful by paying attention to details and giving me feedback via email,\" said Seo Ji-hyun, a student who completed the academy. A city official said, \"We held webtoon training with Kyungpook National University and Kenaz to strengthen the employment capabilities of young people in new business fields, and we are grateful for everyone\'s hard work.\" \"The Youth Policy Division will continue to do its best to provide education and employment in the fields that young people want,\" he said. The graduates of the \'Webtoon Academy\' will have the opportunity to participate in internships or projects at KENAZ after submitting their individual tasks by the 18th of this month, depending on the final evaluation results of KENAZ. Meanwhile, Kyungpook National University has been authorized by the Ministry of Education to offer a Master of Professional Technology course in the field of \'AI-based XR Simulation Content\' for the 2025 academic year, and is recruiting new students with more than three years of industrial experience. Two new departments will be established: the Department of Design Convergence and the Department of Beauty. Kyungpook National University ranked first in the integrated employment rate among metropolitan universities (more than 2,000 graduates) for six consecutive years from 2017 to 2022, as announced by the Ministry of Education, and was selected as a \'General Financial Support University\' in the 2021 Ministry of Education\'s University Basic Competency Diagnosis Evaluation and the 2022 Ministry of Education\'s Link 3.0 project. In addition, transportation convenience has been greatly expanded by operating free school buses for students and opening a subway station (Gyeongbok University). Reporter Ahn Chung-ki newnew9@joongang.co.kr [Source:JoongAng Ilbo]

NEWS

2024-06-12

Suncheon City-Kenazu-France Ono 'Global Webtoon Talent Cultivation' Agreement

Suncheon-si, Jeollanam-do, signed a business agreement with domestic webtoon company Kenaz and local content company Ono to foster global webtoon talent in Annecy, France, on June 11 and took a commemorative photo. From left, Ono CEO Ainara Ifas, Suncheon Mayor Noh Kwan-kyu, and Kenaz CEO Lee Woo-jae.(Provided by Suncheon City)2024.6.12/News1 Suncheon City, Jeollanam-do, announced on June 12 that it signed a business agreement with domestic webtoon company Kenaz and local content company Ono to foster global webtoon talent in the city of Francian. The agreement was promoted to develop global webtoon content, foster human resources, and develop competitive intellectual property rights (IP). At the agreement ceremony, it was also promised to establish a branch of Ono Korea, a joint venture company between Kenaz and Ono, in Suncheon. Ono Korea is a joint venture established in France last year by Ono, a subsidiary of French media content group MPP, and Kenazu, which has 458 webtoonists and more than 250 IPs. Mayor Noh said, \"Even if local students do not go to the metropolitan area, they can work for world-class companies and showcase their talents on the world stage using Suncheon as a springboard.\" \"We will create all conditions with the government so that they can stay in Suncheon, create, and gain new energy,\" he said.Meanwhile, Suncheon Mayor Noh Kwan-kyu and his entourage are visiting France for five days and seven nights from the 7th to the 13th to attend the \'Annecy International Animation Festival\'. kds@news1.kr

NEWS

2024-05-26

Namyangju-si "to foster young talents to lead webtoon industry"

Signed an industry-government-academia agreement to foster young talent in the webtoon industry Webtoon Academy for 20 young adults... Recruiting participants from June The Korea Times = Kim Dong-hwan | Namyangju City is laying the groundwork to foster young talents to lead the webtoon industry, a promising industry for the future. On the 26th, Namyangju City announced, \"We took the first step in industry-government-academia collaboration in the field of webtoons by holding a three-way business agreement ceremony and inviting webtoon writers to give a lecture together with Kyungpook National University and Kennaz, a Korean webtoon production company.\" The business agreement includes support for the operation of the webtoon academy, which will be launched next month to revitalize Namyangju\'s future leading industries and connect local youth to employment and start-ups, and the roles of each institution. In particular, the city will recruit 20 young people interested in the webtoon field for the \'Namyangju Youth Webtoon Academy\' in June. Participants in the academy will receive systematic and professional training from writers from KENAZ using the infrastructure of Kyungpook National University to become experts in the webtoon field. Those who complete the training will be screened and given the opportunity to hire interns or participate in webtoon production projects. Mayor Joo Kwang-duk said, \"Among the concerns of young people, the biggest concern is the problem of finding a job.\" \"Namyangju City will work with local universities and industries to solve this problem and secure educational and employment opportunities for webtoons and other industries with high potential for future development,\" he said. Meanwhile, Namyangju City also hosted an invited lecture by Moro, the author of \"Wiri Story,\" for about 50 citizens following the agreement. The lecture consisted of the background of \'Wiri Story\', the ecosystem of the webtoon industry, and questions and answers, and received a great response from young people and citizens who dream of becoming webtoon writers. Copyright © The Daily Ilbo All rights reserved. Source : The Korea Daily (http://www.m-i.kr)

NEWS

2024-04-29

Kenaz launches first official MD for popular webtoon 'Secret Love'

[By Kim Ki-joo Kim, News Culture] Kennaz (CEO Lee Woo-jae) is releasing the first official MD for the webtoon \"Secret Love\" following the MD for \"Roses and Champagne\" in February. The work, which is popularly available on the Korean content platform Leedee, will expand its content in various forms, including publishing and drama, starting with this MD. Photo/Kenazu There will be a total of seven MDs with new illustrations of the two main characters not seen in previous works, and they will be available for pre-sale on the OFFICIAL W online store from April 29th at 6pm to May 6th. Kenazu, which has more than 250 IPs based on a solid planning and production system, said that in addition to the release of this MD, it plans to continue its active IP business with various works such as \"Login Murim\". Meanwhile, Kenazu is a webtoon IP holder that is expanding its business in various forms, including webtoon movie adaptations (dramas and movies), opening global pop-up cafes, global publishing, games, and animation production. News Culture Kim Ki-Joo kimkj@knewscorp.co.kr Copyright © NEWSCULTURE All rights reserved. Source : NEWSCULTURE (https://www.newsculture.press)

NEWS

2024-02-01

Kenazu Launches MD for Global Popular Webtoon 'Roses and Champagne'

Webtoon IP holder Kenaz (CEO Lee Woo-jae) announced on the 21st that it has launched MD (merchandise, planned products) for the global popular webtoon \'Roses and Champagne\'. \"We are accelerating the expansion of our IP (intellectual property),\" said an official from Kenaz. \"As a secondary commercialization strategy for our IP (webtoon), we are expanding our business in various forms, such as webtoon movie (drama, film), opening a global pop-up cafe, global publishing, game, and animation production.\" He continued, \"Kenaz\'s representative webtoon, <;;Roses and Champagne>;; (Original: ZIG, Drawing: Fat Dog), is available in Korea on Resin and Bomtoon. It was published as a paperback in France, the center of European manga, and reached the number one spot on Amazon, and has a fanbase of more than 10,000 people in the United States, where the work is not published.\" \"We have chosen roses and champagne as our first in-house MD (merchandise and merchandising products),\" said Mr. KENAZ, \"featuring new illustrations of the two main characters, Caesar and Jung Yi-won, that were never seen in the webtoon, and will be available on the OFFICIAL W online store from 18:00 today, Wednesday, November 21st.\" \"In response to customers who expressed their disappointment with the limited number of collaboratively produced MDs, we will be selling our own MDs at all times. Kenazu, which has more than 250 IPs based on a solid planning and production system, plans to continue its active IP business with various works such as <;;Login Murim>;; starting with the release of this MD.\" Source: Sisun News (http://www.sisunnews.co.kr) [Source:Sisun News] Kenaz, Global Popular Webtoon \'Roses and Champagne\' MD ReleaseView original article:http://www.sisunnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=207267

NEWS

2024-01-26

Kenaz co-produces webtoon with NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest mobile carrier, for first launch

Staged image for better understanding [courtesy of Kenaz]. Webtoon creation studio Kenazu (CEO Lee Woo-jae) and Japan\'s largest mobile operator NTT DoCoMo collaborated on the webtoon <;;A Flower Road to a Martial Arts Villain>;; (Japanese service name: 前世に還ったら兄が大悪党だった件について), announced today (June 26) that it will be available exclusively on NTT DoCoMo\'s e-book platform \"dBooks\" for the first time. \"The webtoon <;;A Flower Road to the Villain of Wuxia>;; is based on the novel of the same name by Gong Rah-hee,\" the company said. \"Starting with this work, the second co-production work <;;Spy House>;; (Japanese service name: スパイハウス) will be launched in February, and Kenazu and NTT Docomo plan to release a total of 10 co-produced works on dBooks over the next two years, including the above two works. \"Meanwhile, dBook, one of NTT DoCoMo\'s telecommunications and smart life businesses (providing video and music), is an e-book platform that offers more than 900,000 titles, including webtoons, manga, novels, and practical books, to 88.5 million NTT DoCoMo carrier users and general users.\" In this regard, Kenazu said, \"Rather than settling for the domestic webtoon market, Kenazu aims to promote the true globalization of IP through global co-production and talent development, and then introduce webtoon content to more users around the world with various partners through its own big-tech distribution line to break down cultural barriers.\" \"This co-production with NTT DoCoMo in Japan marks Kenazu\'s full-scale globalization of IP.\" \"As a webtoon production company, Kenaz is planning to conduct global academies and global co-productions with China\'s Bytedance (19\'), Korea\'s Kakao Page (20\'~22\'), and Japan\'s Wacom-Celsys (23\'), as well as global co-productions with China\'s Netease and Tencent,\" he added.

NEWS

2023-11-14

Kenaz Completes Japan's Webtoon Academy to Discover Global Webtoonists

Webtoon creation studio Kenazu (CEO Lee Woo-jae) announced the successful completion of the Japan Webtoon Academy. Based on the experience of academies with Bytedance in China and Kakao Page in Korea, Kenaz collaborated with Wacom and Celsys in Japan to hold the Korea-Japan online academy for about four months from June to November 10th. The academy attracted more than 350 applicants due to their interest in Japanese webtoons and enthusiasm for participation, and 200 students were selected for Course 1, which taught the basic contents of webtoons, and 8 students were finally selected for Course 2 with the goal of serialization, and the completion ceremony was held on the 10th. The selected students received professional webtoon debut training and coaching from Kenazu to create webtoons, and at the completion ceremony held at Wacom\'s Tokyo office on the 10th, they received creative support grants. They will create original content through a writer contract with Kenazu, and will start global services in Korea, Japan, China, North America, etc. through the distribution line of Kenazu, an Apple Books MCP. \"There is a growing interest in webtoons around the world, and various fields are looking for webtoon IPs, but to truly expand webtoons, it is necessary to create original content that reflects each culture and fuse them together,\" said Woojae Lee, CEO of Kenaz. Kenaz will continue its efforts to secure global webtoon artists and original IPs by holding academies in various countries such as France, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Turkey.

NEWS

2023-11-01

Kenaz-Winatmedia to co-produce drama 'Weather Forecasting Love'...casting Shin Jung-yoo and Woo Ji-han

(Photo courtesy of Kenaz, Winatmedia) [Asia Newswire=Sangjin Lee] Webtoon IP holder Kennaz and global multidisciplinary content studio WINATMEDIA are set to premiere the hotly anticipated web drama \"Weather Forecasting Love\" overseas. \"Weather Forecast Love\" tells the story of two young men who are swayed by unpredictable love emotions like rain showers on a sunny day. It is based on the popular webtoon of the same name (written by Gwendolyn, drawn by Samyoung, and produced by Kennaz) that was serialized on the Korean content platform RIDI. Newcomers Shin Jung-yoo and Woo Ji-han were cast to lead the drama. Shin plays Ban Dong-wook, a business school student who attracts everyone\'s attention with his good looks and superior physique, but his insomnia-induced sensitivity makes it difficult for him to let go of anyone easily. Woo Ji-han plays Lee Do-hyun, a cadaver department nerd who exudes a reverse charm with a lovable personality that disarms people with just a first impression, and an insane competitive drive that drives him to accomplish his goals. With Dong-wook, who can only fall asleep when he\'s with him, and Do-hyun, who can\'t fall asleep when he\'s with him, we can\'t wait to see what his statue dreams will be like. The film will premiere on global video platform iQIYI on May 10 in 21 countries including the United States, Canada, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan, with domestic release dates to be determined. Kenaz (CEO Woojae Lee) is a webtoon creation studio that produces webtoons with high writing quality and solid story lines by adopting a pre-production system, and plans to expand its business into various fields such as drama, animation, games, and publishing by actively utilizing its 220 webtoon IPs. WINATMEDIA (CEO Lee Min-seok) is a global comprehensive content studio that has been leading the new media drama market with a number of hits with its novel planning and production capabilities, including the web dramas \"Omniscient Unrequited Love Point of View\" and \"When I Was Taken by Iljin (original Day Seven). In order to provide a special encounter with fans of the original drama ahead of its overseas premiere, the web drama \"Weather Forecasting Love\" will also hold a collaboration cafe promotion at the 1st store of Tunik in Hongdae from the 8th to the 19th of this month. The collaboration cafe, which is organized as a space to enhance the immersive experience of the work, will feature collaborative food and beverages inspired by the work and limited goods based on the original webtoon. Limited goods will also be available for purchase online. Meanwhile, \"Weather Forecasting Love\" will have its international premiere in Aichi on the 10th of this month and will be released through OTT in Korea at a later date. For more information, please visit dltkdwls3170@naver.com