Licensing Con 2022 kicks off with aim to provide insight into IP

Licensing Con 2022, hosted and organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency, kicked off Friday and continues through Saturday. It is the event’s fourth edition and aims to provide insights into...

Scott Manson, President of Business Solutions at HYBE America, Chief Operating Officer of SB Projects and a Partner at Ithaca Holdings, speaks during a press interview ahead of Licensing Con 2022 on Thursday. [KOREA CREATIVE CONTENT AGENCY]

Licensing Con 2022, hosted and organized by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency, kicked off Friday and continues through Saturday.

It is the event’s fourth edition and aims to provide insights into the intellectual property (IP) business through lectures by both domestic and international businesses that actively utilize IP.

On Thursday, Scott Manson, president of business solutions at HYBE America, chief operating officer of SB Projects and a partner at Ithaca Holdings, paid a visit to Coex in southern Seoul, which is where Licensing Con 2022 takes place, ahead of his keynote address on Friday.

Manson is responsible for all new business units of HYBE America, and has been behind projects such as pop singers Justin Bieber’s docuseries “Justin Bieber: Seasons” (2020) and Ariana Grande’s documentary feature film “Excuse Me, I Love You” (2020).

“[HYBE’s] founder is a creative. Bang [Si-hyuk, chairman of HYBE] is an artist himself and across all nine labels that operate independently across Korea, Japan and the U.S., what we have is very strong creatives [...] that are supporting artists that have very different styles [...] and while we think we have the right instincts in terms of what artists invest in and spend time developing, we have a diversified global approach to recognizing and signing the talent then developing them with creatives that are at hand,” Manson said during a press interview on Thursday.

Manson said he believes that the next “big star” could come from anywhere in the world.

“Ultimately, the decision-maker on that is going to be the fans,” Manson said. He revealed that the company is currently developing a new girl group, created hand in hand by “the best in the world” from HYBE: K-pop artist training creatives and label and management executives.

HYBE’s goal is to “enrich and evolve the relationships between the artist and the fans,” Manson said, and it is HYBE’s “job” to “support and facilitate” it, encouraging fans to become invested in the so-called “universe” built upon the IPs.

“The edge for universe marketing is that if you get the first project right, then you have a much higher probability of succeeding in every subsequent project,” Manson said, citing the example of David Maisel, the founding chairman of Marvel Studios, and how the Marvel Cinematic Universe had found continued success after Maisel first oversaw the launch of the Iron Man films in 2008.

Manson said that he is “inspired and impressed” by the variety of content provided by K-pop acts and their headquarters, and is “learning and experimenting” to diversify the fan experiences.

“The most impactful change has been all of the tools, communities and platforms that have allowed global fan bases to come together,” Manson said. “We have [HYBE-launched fan community platform] Weverse, and I’ve seen amazing connections and deeper communications between fans and their idols and each other, and that is just so powerful.”

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]