K-content has taken the world by storm and continues to resonate with audiences worldwide. In this episode, we sit down with CJ ENM’s Chief Global Officer & CEO of America, Steve Chung, discussing the globalization of content and the impact of Netflix’s $2.5 billion investment into South Korean movies and television shows.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good Company is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
What you're seeing is that Korean content has become almost
its own genre that transcends borders, languages, and ethnic backgrounds.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Hi, I'm Michael Casson. Welcome to Good Company. We're all
explore how marketing, media, entertainment and tech are intersecting, transforming
our lives and the way we do business at a
breakneck speed. I'll be joined by some of the greatest
business minds at strongest leaders who will share how they
built companies from the ground up or transformed them from
the inside out. My bet is you'll pick up a
(00:38):
lesson or two along the way. It's all good. It's
a wonderful pleasure today to welcome to Good Company Steve Chung. Steve,
you and I've gotten to know each other a bit
over the last few months, and you know, I was
so interested in your story and where your journey has
led you where you are now. I think it would
be great to give our listeners a little bit of
(01:00):
a view of how Steve Chung got to be the
Chief Global Officer and CEO of the Americas for CJ,
E and M.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Thank you, Michael, and thank you so much for having
me here. Look, I think sort of like you, I've
had different lives in my career, and for me, I
would say sort of three, you know, kind of one
bucket is finance and investing. So it started my career
after college at Goldman Sachs in New York, where I
learned the trade of working one hundred hours a week,
(01:31):
occasionally sleeping under the desk. So that was a great
learning and ultimately that sort of path led to having
some stints as an investor and finance professional, and then
I jumped over to Silicon Valley after my business school
at Stanford actually got the technology bug and saw the
power of Silicon Valley and its technologies on how it
(01:54):
can impact and transform our world. Those two things sort
of led me to my third sort of career, if
you will, and my current one in media, where my
skills that I think in experience having finance and technology
into the media that we have today has been really
instructive for me. So that's sort of the wide swaths
(02:16):
of my background. And now at CJ, you know, CJ
and M we would like to consider selves perhaps not
the biggest, but one of the most consequential media companies
of our generation. Obviously we're anchored in Korean content, and
I stand on the shoulders of giants like our chairman
and vice chairwoman Mickey Lee, who many of you know,
(02:39):
you know, accepted the honors at the Oscars for Parasite
a few years ago, which we're quite proud of. So
that's that's my journey. I'm still wondering how I got here, Michael,
but glad I am.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Well, Steve, that's great and it's helpful because you know,
part of what I love to explore is how you
get here? And you know, what was the identification? What
was the moment? You know, I would say to you
The question I have is what was the attraction? I mean,
k content has taken the world by storm, film, television, music, streaming.
(03:14):
How'd you know?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah? You know, I wish I can claim sort of
foresight and insight and have you know told you since
twenty years ago I knew exactly this is what I
would be doing. But you know, I think I'm guided
first of all by a lot of wonderful mentors who've
taken an interest to shape who I am. And I
think you know, anybody who I meet that says they
(03:36):
don't have mentors or somebody they look up to. I
think probably has a short dead end at some point.
So I'm always learning, so grateful for all the people
who've been in my life to kind of help shape
my view and my career. My north star from early
on actually was as a Korean American. You know, I
was born in Korea but moved to the US when
(03:57):
I was nine, growing up here in LA in fact
in Arcadia near Pasadena. Uh, I've always yeah, I thought that, look,
what is something that only Steve Chung uniquely can contribute
in my lifetime? And I really thought even then that
you know, this sort of US Asia generally would be
sort of the defining geopolitical relationship so to speak, that
(04:21):
I can uniquely contribute to, and that it will be
very impactful for peace and prosperity of the world, if
you will. So from the early days, even in college,
I looked for opportunities that would help me become a
bridge between sort of my hyphenated identities of being an
American but having an Asian ethnic background. So through the
(04:44):
successive jobs I had, at every turn it either had
something directly involving US Asia or it was preparing me
for a role that had those two impacts. So, for example,
right before I joined CJ, I was at Fox Corporation
as the chief Growth Officer. Nothing directly related to US
(05:05):
Asia because it was very much of an American operation,
the Fox that I joined, But it was really that
experience that led me to have this role at CJ.
Really at the intersection of the global cultural Korean zeitgeist,
if you will, and global media, and I think my
training at Fox prepared me well. So if I had
(05:27):
to go back to your point of the song and
the singer who kind of helped me, you know, there
was a mentor of my name, Ambassador Donald Gregg, who
used to be the former US Ambassador to Korea, who
I had the chance to meet in my college days,
said to me, Steve, you know, a life of pertinence
is more important than a life of affluence. And given
(05:48):
sort of his background, that sort of the US Asia
relationship with something that he felt that I could uniquely
contribute to. But ironically he encouraged me to take my
first job at Goldman Sachs.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
It's funny to say that because when I began my
career as a lawyer, I'm not sure if you know
that some people know it. Yes, I spent the first
ten years of my career as a tax lawyer with
a focus in the entertainment industry, but because I was
in Los Angeles, So when you're in Los Angeles, that's
the thing you focus on. But interestingly enough, when I
was in college, my dad's lawyer. My dad spoke to
(06:25):
his lawyer and said, you know, Michael wants to go
to law school. I was in high school. Michael wants
to go to law school. Can he work in your
law off is just to see what it's like to
work in a law office. I think, I said, of course, again,
but I would tell him the better idea was, you know,
go get a job working with people working with me.
You won't learn much as a you know, clerk in
a law firm. Yeah, it'll give you a picture of
(06:46):
what a law firm is like, but it won't give
you the life experience you need. And you know what
I did then, because I always love working with kids,
I ended up going being a camp counselor, and I
actually got probably better benefit out of that in my career, honestly,
because the lesson you learn from camp counseling is the
lesson you learn from the kids. It's like the lessons
you learn from teaching. You actually, if you're a good teacher,
you probably learn a lot from your students as well
(07:08):
as I'm learning from you. So it's just life's journeys,
is you know. And I was a good camp counselor.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
I'm sure you are. Did you volunteer where you paid?
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Oh? No, I was paid. I won't I ask. You know,
I was a good camp counselor. They liked me, you know,
counselor Mike. They called me Mike counselor Mike.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
All right, well I might call you that too.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
There you go. So so Steve looking at the market,
and again it's like real estate, k con and the
stuff you focus on is like Maine and Maine right now.
And you know, in real estate you always say the location, location, location.
You want it to be at the corner of Maine
and Maine. You're at the corner of Maine and Maine.
Netflix recently announced two and a half billion dollar investment
(07:51):
in South Korean movies produced, et cetera. Can you talk
to us about how k kN really acted the global
audience and and the you know, just high level of
attraction to the global audience and to an audience that matters,
because my follow up to that is going to be,
you know, from a brand perspective. So so nowhere my
(08:14):
next qu I'm giving you a heads up of my
next question. Appreciate that I don't generally plan ahead, but no, look,
I think, you know, taking a step back.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
When I was growing up, the questions that I got
was like, are you Chinese or Japanese? And those are
the only choices I had to answer when somebody looked
at me and asked me who I was, uh, And
so then I'd say I'm Korean. And then the second
question was are you North Korean or South Korean? And
so those two questions, uh, you know, I think really
(08:46):
encapsulated thirty years ago what the world was like and
where Korea was on the map, certainly in terms of
the US sort of cultural zeitgeist, and and thank you
for putting us on Maine and Maine, but you know,
I think taking kind of this Korean phenomenon in its
broader global context, I think while it's certainly a story
(09:10):
of Korea and there's a lot to be proud about there,
I think it's actually also part of a bigger story
of really the globalization of content in general. When you
have platforms like a Facebook, who sort of started it
all perhaps, and a YouTube and an Instagram and then
now TikTok, successive younger generations have really realized sort of
(09:33):
no geographical boundaries in their content consumption. And so when
Netflix came along and really flattened the world, if you will,
and really made it smaller, so that anybody sitting at
home in the US, big town or small town USA
could enjoy shows from Israel, or could enjoy shows from Spain,
or can enjoy shows from South Korea, it was sort
(09:56):
of a great equalizer. And so I think the Korean
story is sort of a part of that and a
great beneficiary of that. Now, the fact is, I think
Korean content actually has been very good for a very
long time, and so it's sort of like my mom's
cooking in Korean food. It's like, why does Korean food
taste so good? Maybe it's because I'm Korean. And in fact,
(10:19):
what's actually true is that Korean food was good to
me because it was actually really good. And I think
it's the world that was sort of awakened.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
I like Matza Ball soup. It's because I'm Jewish.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah, well I love matza ball and then mats of
soup too, so you know, but it's it's because it's
really delicious. So I think that's kind of the story
also with Korea, and you know, there are so many
different factors that contributed everything from government policy and support
to well, we would like some credit at CJ, E
and M for being, you know, arguably the most important
(10:52):
Korean media company to push this development over the past
thirty years or so and being a you know, sort
of a driver of the globalization of Korean content to
of course the writers and the directors and the producers
and the actors and the talent everybody in the ecosystem
who've worked so hard to first and foremost please the
(11:14):
domestic audience, which still is at the core of what
we do for good storytelling. But now that domestic audience
is brought into the world. So, you know, CJ very
briefly for those of your listeners who may not be
totally familiar with our story, we really have two sort
of big things that we do. I would say one
is film and television production and the second is K
(11:36):
pop music. And there are lots of businesses around that,
but you know, we are part of the CJ Corporation,
the thirty billion dollar revenue company and the entertainment group
CJ E M M, where I'm the chief Global Officer
and the CEO of the US is the entertainment portion
of the CJ Group. And so that's sort of where
(11:57):
we are and the steed.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
You know, I told you I was going to ask
a follow up question. You know, as as kkon has
continued to become so important and continues to grow, you know,
how is your approach to the kind of business side
of it. Remember we always say that they call it
show business because there's the show and there's the business. Yes,
(12:19):
you know, the business side of it. Are you seeing
the uptake from the global brands wanting to reach and
engage with the audiences that you're attracting. Are they Are
they realizing the power of kkon?
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, it's a great question, Michael, and I think they're
slowly starting to. But I think there's just a huge
opportunity to engage us more and to sort of our
earlier point about the globalization of these platforms. You know,
and you're the expert at this, whereas perhaps most of
sort of brand or or performance marketing even or especially
(12:52):
we're very geo specific, right. You carve out territories and
here's my strategy for Korea, and here's my strategy for
you know, XYZ country, and you sort of think that
nobody is actually transversing these borders and that whatever.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Missis you have. I learned this years ago working in
Hong Kong with the Shaw family and they owned the largest,
you know, Chinese language broadcast company in the world at
that time. And it wasn't based on just the population
of Hong Kong, obviously, it was the diaspora of Chinese
(13:29):
that would be able to enjoy that content around the world.
Obviously technology enabled that. And it's similar with the Korean
diaspora of sorts, with folks that are Korean, not just
living in Korea obviously.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, and I would actually go even beyond that, Michael,
And I'll give you some stats, because everybody loves some stats.
So Korean content, Well, let me just to zoom in
on CJ. CJ has been responsible for producing twenty two
top ten global Netflix TV shows over the past two
years alone. It's twenty to top ten global and it's
(14:03):
just it's not even Korea only, right, it's it's seventy
eighty one hundred and twenty countries that you would really
need the viewership to actually make it to the top
ten list on a Netflix Global chart, you know, in
Southeast Asia, so you're talking about Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia,
et cetera. Korean content cumulatively on a premium vod basis
(14:28):
accounts for thirty four percent of all viewing. That's compared
to twenty percent of all of Hollywood. So in fact,
if you walk around the streets of Southeast Asia, Korean
content is Hollywood to Southeast Asia. So I think, whereas
ten years ago, really it was about Korean's and the
Korean diaspora. Today, fast forward to twenty twenty three, with
(14:52):
the powerful global platforms like a Netflix, Disney plus Amazon
and so on, what you're seeing is that Korean content
has become almost its own genre that transcends borders, languages,
and ethnic backgrounds. So you know, it's just like there's
a fandom for horror or fandom for action, there's a
global fandom for Korean content. And I would say that's
(15:14):
both on the TV film side, as well as related
but a slightly different vector on kpop, which is sort
of overlapping but also different.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
You know, you make a good point and let me
kind of change directions here. The models that we're all
looking at historically of creating content, selling and licensing it.
We're seeing the challenge that huge content engines are feeling
in this kind of new world. Yes, can you talk
(15:46):
to us about where you think monetization is. I mean,
are we going to see advertiser funded programming as a
new you know, we've talked about it forever. Are we
going to see advertisers, you know, not just buying thirty
second spots? Obviously, you know is an old story, but
it's never really gotten the traction that everybody expected it
too in our world? Is that Is that one of
(16:06):
the things we're going to see starting to happen?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I think so. And you know, I think what you're
seeing is like what's old is new again. You know,
you HARKing back to the Hallmark channels and it's kind
of like, you know, operators branded soap operas. So I
think to bring this all back to that question, Michael,
with this sort of globalization of content and content having
no geographic boundaries. I think it's a huge opportunity for
(16:31):
content creators like us and marketers who listen to this show,
sort of an amazing untapped opportunity. And then you know,
of course things like you know, content and commerce, and
in our conversations with brands, you know, talking about how
kind of the chief content officers now the hottest title
(16:51):
in brand companies because the stories of the products is
almost are as important as the products themselves.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Well, see what I would tell you is I rarely
and I say this frequently, but I rarely have seen
the word commerce lately not modified by the word content, right,
exactly content And that's what we and in fact, the
part that I didn't talk about.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
For CJ, we actually have a huge commerce division within
the entertainment group, things like TV shopping where actually we
do operate retail source. We're very familiar with commerce and
brands and what they might need. So but to bring
it back, I think, you know, I think the industry
pundits like to say, we're in the post peak TV
era now, and whether you're a content creator or the platforms,
(17:36):
you need to find other ways to monetize beyond just
kind of the core business of producing and selling. And
I think not only from kind of a supplier mindset,
but from the demand side. I think, you know, when
we're skipping fifteen thirty second ad spots in favor of content,
I think it's a very natural platform to be able
(17:57):
to tell the brand stories and to integrate natural products
and services within the larger storytelling, of course, without diluting
the authenticity of the stories themselves, which we really keep
you know, sort of protective of so yes, So I
do think that companies, sort of modern media companies of
today need to think beyond the traditional core of just
(18:19):
production and licensing to a more holistic view of their business,
whether it's merchandising or commerce, or product integration, product placement,
and really think about it more openly. And in fact,
what we've seen is because we have already done some
very impactful integrations of products within Korean dramas, but mainly
(18:41):
they have been the Korean offices of products, whether it's
global CPS.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
That goes to and Steve that goes to the question
I was asking earlier about you know, brands to engage
outside of you know, Korean based, I was going to say,
and I don't want you to answer me giving me
Samsung as the example, and so I didn't say that,
but you know, and I know that doesn't isn't what
you mean because it might be Unilever but based out
of Korea, not Unilever based out of London.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
This see exactly that That's actually what I was saying.
So for example, you know in ours or others, you know,
for example, the subway chain actually you know in it.
So you're like, why is this character always eating subway
sandwiches in this Korean drama? You know you might have
or this brand of you know, chocolate bar from somewhere.
But that's my point is that if you are sitting
(19:31):
as a global brand owner on a global basis, whether
you're US or European based, it is no longer I think, well,
there are reasons for why things have to be geographic
and targeted, of course, but using Korean content is one
example in a platform.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
And look famous Bates Advertising and the reason I'm modifying
what I just said by giving credit to Baits Advertising.
I used this expression once in an article I wrote
years ago, twenty five years ago, and I got a
cease and desist letter from Bates Advertising, which doesn't exist anymore.
It's part of WPP now. But they owned the expression
I'm about to use and had trademarked it, and I
(20:10):
didn't know. I thought it was just a term of speech,
think globally, act locally. Yes, I just thought that was
good logic. I didn't realize it was a you know,
they also invented for M and MS it melts in
your mouth, not in your hands, so they protected that
as well. But it was really interesting that that concept
was a trademarked expression and you still give that advice
(20:33):
to marketers today.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
It is. And you know, I think, and I'll take
the counter position a bit on that. I think, think globally,
act locally. I think perhaps you could append something else
to it, you know, sort of, because the boundaries between
thinking globally and thinking locally and acting locally and acting
globally are porous.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Now, very very very they don't exist anymore. Let Steve,
I'll dumb this down. We moved to California. My family
moved to California from New York in nineteen fifty three.
So yes, I'm that old, and I wasn't just born either,
so and when we moved here, unusually I had a
(21:18):
bi coastal life in the fifties, which wasn't the standard
because you didn't just travel like that. But because my
grandparents and my close relatives still lived in New York,
we would go back more often because my mom mised
her family and you know, as we do, and I
grew up with much more of an East Coast experience
than my friends in California. And it got down to
(21:41):
the basics, like I'd come back from the summer in
New York and my mother would take me shopping for
school clothes. As one davoo. I didn't wear a uniform
back then, so you'd go, you know, you'd go shopping
for the clothes for the new school year, and my
mother would take me shopping in New York. And I'd
come back to California, and I dressed differently than everybody.
And this was in the same country. Obviously, it was
(22:04):
when it was a very stark difference between the left
coast and the right coast, as we say, but you're
saying that same thing on a global basis today. Today,
no matter where I bought my clothes, I'd be dressing
the same as anybody walking down the street. And soul
I mean effectively, So those barriers don't exist anymore in culture,
(22:24):
you know, generally speaking, So then why should they in
content and in marketing and all of that other than
the tweak you need to do for local if it
has you know, unique characteristics.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yeah, and I would say, you know, some markets are
more sort of globally in tune, if you will, versus
some other markets that are relatively sort of isolated, you know,
relatively speaking. But I would say Korea, you know, I
would Korea if if any of your listeners have visited koreaan,
they would know it's actually quite a trendy. And I
(22:57):
say that in a positive very much so. And so
you know, somebody from LA or New York City visiting
Soul would feel actually sort of natural and the spiritual similarize.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
I can speak to that, you know, visited Soul, I
can speak to that.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yeah, So I think that that's part of this. And
you know, the top luxury brands are using K pop
and K drama, you know, spokespersons and ambassadors to really
represent their brands on a global basis. Now, so this
sort of fashion, content and even technology, Korea is really
(23:33):
one of those sort of globally integrated centers that often
lead and in fact it is viewed as a market
because of its density and size. And half of the
fifty million population live in or around Soul now, so
twenty five million sort of consumer base living on top
of each other in a very tech forward and fact.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Two thousands of mass superiors.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
And so it is a massive, dense, peatra dish of
exploration that global brands and technology companies have effectively used
to be sort of a you know, canary in the
coal mine in some ways what would happen? So yeah,
and I would say Korea is very much of that
global sort of fabric now, and which is to your
(24:17):
earlier question of why one of the reasons why Korean
content has been so globally appealing is while it still
retains and parasite on one of our movies, that one
the oscars I mentioned is a perfect example. It's a
very local story of class struggle and kind of the
realities of what you know, sort of lower income families
(24:38):
sort of have to go through in modern Soul at
the same time and hit upon this global theme of
class struggles and economic disparity and and what that means
to pride and to family dynamics and to kind of
definitions of success and happiness for that, those are global
themes that this movie tapped in. So to sort of
(25:01):
translate that to the global marketer, I would say that
whether it's K pop and we have you mentioned ki
Kan before, k Kon is basically the world's largest Kpe
pop music culture festival that we throw CJ started a
twelve years ago. Last August, we had one hundred and
forty thousand people descend into LA. We do these things
(25:23):
four times a year. La riod in Saudi Arabia and Tokyo, Japan, Bangkok, Thailand.
LA attracted, you know, thirty three percent white Caucasian, thirty
two percent Hispanic, twenty eight percent Asian, and of the Asian,
Koreans were a minority, so you'd be actually hard to
find Koreans and Kkon you would love more likely to
(25:47):
run into a Hispanic you known jeds. So this is
I think an educational process for the world and sort
of anybody who's sort of twenty six or seven or
younger very much is aware of K pop and Korean drama.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Don't cut out the old guys. I'm aware of it.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Well, no, you are different. Not everybody is Michael Casson
and that's why you are. You are the Manned legend.
But you know other other than Michael Cassen and few
of those. I think the world is awakening more and
more to that when BTS is charting one of the
top albums in the world, you know, or Black Pink
or you know, a global top you know, Netflix show
(26:28):
is Korean people are absolutely taking note. But it's funny.
The farther you get away from the US and close
you get to Korea, the influence of Korean culture is
much more directly sort of felt, and I think the
US is almost sort of late in arriving to through
the phenomenal of Korean content.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Not surprising, so Steve, you know, you're talking about it
continuing to seed, you know, in a global place. What's
what's the next new project, what's the next new thing,
What's what are we going to hear out of out
of c Jay, you know, in terms of what's coming.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, very excited. I would say couple of big themes
for us. One is actually and it just showed through
our recent movie with A twenty four it's called Past Lives.
I recommend everybody go watch that movie. It's now available
on streaming too, on I think Amazon and other places.
But it's a story of a couple, if you will,
(27:24):
who met in kindergarten and their childhood days in Korea
and one immigrated to Canada I think it was, and
later in their adult life they sort of reconvene two
different worlds, Korea and the US. Past Lives is not
a Korean movie, but it's not exactly just an American movie.
It's really a blending of geographies and cultures, which is
(27:45):
in fact our lives today. So I think we're going
to see a lot more of these US Korea sort
of co productions where it's very difficult to define. Is
this a foreign quote unquote foreign film or foreign show?
Our American show? Well, it's actually our show.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
It's like the old. It's the old you're too young
to remember. But SERTs the the the lozenge. They used
to say. The commercial was Searts as a candy mint,
and then the other person way now SERTs as a
breath mint. So you know which which is it? Right?
It's both?
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yeah, And I think we're in that world. So I
think you're going to see a lot more of those
efforts for us. You know, we acquired an amazing studio
from Endeavor called Endeavor Content that we've renamed Fifth Season.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
So we have a a you know.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
They they did the producers of Severance and Nine Perfect Strangers, Tokyovice,
some of these cultural iconic shows of today. Uh, and
then with all of the.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
You have to put a plug in. My son was
was was the guy who found Tokyovice when he was
partnering with John Lesher.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
So I I love Tokyovice and I did as well.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
And my son was part of putting that package together.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Yeah, and look, Tokyovice, here's a story of.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
A rout father. I shouldn't say that on our podcast.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
That's okay. Well no, And so American journalist living in
Japan who studied in Japan talking, you know, taking the
Police eat in Tokyo gat. Is that an American show
or a Japanese Well, it's sort of kind of both, right,
and maybe it has a little bit of a US perspective.
But I think we're going to see more and more.
And CJ is very excited to be at that cusp
(29:26):
and at that intersection of this global local What does
it mean is it a mint breath mint or a
candy cert mint or whatever. You know, that's sort of
our where we are today.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
And well, there you go. I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
It is. Yeah, So that's that's one. And then yeah,
I mean, we're just excited generally about the rise of
K pop as a global phenomenon for brands, et cetera.
So we're in the process of actually setting up sort
of a multicultural agency within CJ to help brands connect
with K pop stars and Korean content across border. So
(30:00):
these are some exciting initiatives come in our way.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Well, Steve Chung, I want to thank you for spending
this time with us on Good Company. I learned a lot.
I'm certain our audience will as well. I appreciate you,
and I appreciate you making the talk.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
It's all good, Michael.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
I'm Michael Casson. Thanks for listening to Good Company.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Good Company is a production of iHeartRadio Special. Thanks to
Lena Peterson, chief Brand Officer and Managing Director of Media
Link for her vision I'm Good Company, and to Jen Sealey,
Vice President Marketing Communications of Media Link for programming amazing
talent and content
Good Company is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
What you're seeing is that Korean content has become almost
its own genre that transcends borders, languages, and ethnic backgrounds.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Hi, I'm Michael Casson. Welcome to Good Company. We're all
explore how marketing, media, entertainment and tech are intersecting, transforming
our lives and the way we do business at a
breakneck speed. I'll be joined by some of the greatest
business minds at strongest leaders who will share how they
built companies from the ground up or transformed them from
the inside out. My bet is you'll pick up a
(00:38):
lesson or two along the way. It's all good. It's
a wonderful pleasure today to welcome to Good Company Steve Chung. Steve,
you and I've gotten to know each other a bit
over the last few months, and you know, I was
so interested in your story and where your journey has
led you where you are now. I think it would
be great to give our listeners a little bit of
(01:00):
a view of how Steve Chung got to be the
Chief Global Officer and CEO of the Americas for CJ,
E and M.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Thank you, Michael, and thank you so much for having
me here. Look, I think sort of like you, I've
had different lives in my career, and for me, I
would say sort of three, you know, kind of one
bucket is finance and investing. So it started my career
after college at Goldman Sachs in New York, where I
learned the trade of working one hundred hours a week,
(01:31):
occasionally sleeping under the desk. So that was a great
learning and ultimately that sort of path led to having
some stints as an investor and finance professional, and then
I jumped over to Silicon Valley after my business school
at Stanford actually got the technology bug and saw the
power of Silicon Valley and its technologies on how it
(01:54):
can impact and transform our world. Those two things sort
of led me to my third sort of career, if
you will, and my current one in media, where my
skills that I think in experience having finance and technology
into the media that we have today has been really
instructive for me. So that's sort of the wide swaths
(02:16):
of my background. And now at CJ, you know, CJ
and M we would like to consider selves perhaps not
the biggest, but one of the most consequential media companies
of our generation. Obviously we're anchored in Korean content, and
I stand on the shoulders of giants like our chairman
and vice chairwoman Mickey Lee, who many of you know,
(02:39):
you know, accepted the honors at the Oscars for Parasite
a few years ago, which we're quite proud of. So
that's that's my journey. I'm still wondering how I got here, Michael,
but glad I am.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Well, Steve, that's great and it's helpful because you know,
part of what I love to explore is how you
get here? And you know, what was the identification? What
was the moment? You know, I would say to you
The question I have is what was the attraction? I mean,
k content has taken the world by storm, film, television, music, streaming.
(03:14):
How'd you know?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
Yeah? You know, I wish I can claim sort of
foresight and insight and have you know told you since
twenty years ago I knew exactly this is what I
would be doing. But you know, I think I'm guided
first of all by a lot of wonderful mentors who've
taken an interest to shape who I am. And I
think you know, anybody who I meet that says they
(03:36):
don't have mentors or somebody they look up to. I
think probably has a short dead end at some point.
So I'm always learning, so grateful for all the people
who've been in my life to kind of help shape
my view and my career. My north star from early
on actually was as a Korean American. You know, I
was born in Korea but moved to the US when
(03:57):
I was nine, growing up here in LA in fact
in Arcadia near Pasadena. Uh, I've always yeah, I thought that, look,
what is something that only Steve Chung uniquely can contribute
in my lifetime? And I really thought even then that
you know, this sort of US Asia generally would be
sort of the defining geopolitical relationship so to speak, that
(04:21):
I can uniquely contribute to, and that it will be
very impactful for peace and prosperity of the world, if
you will. So from the early days, even in college,
I looked for opportunities that would help me become a
bridge between sort of my hyphenated identities of being an
American but having an Asian ethnic background. So through the
(04:44):
successive jobs I had, at every turn it either had
something directly involving US Asia or it was preparing me
for a role that had those two impacts. So, for example,
right before I joined CJ, I was at Fox Corporation
as the chief Growth Officer. Nothing directly related to US
(05:05):
Asia because it was very much of an American operation,
the Fox that I joined, But it was really that
experience that led me to have this role at CJ.
Really at the intersection of the global cultural Korean zeitgeist,
if you will, and global media, and I think my
training at Fox prepared me well. So if I had
(05:27):
to go back to your point of the song and
the singer who kind of helped me, you know, there
was a mentor of my name, Ambassador Donald Gregg, who
used to be the former US Ambassador to Korea, who
I had the chance to meet in my college days,
said to me, Steve, you know, a life of pertinence
is more important than a life of affluence. And given
(05:48):
sort of his background, that sort of the US Asia
relationship with something that he felt that I could uniquely
contribute to. But ironically he encouraged me to take my
first job at Goldman Sachs.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
It's funny to say that because when I began my
career as a lawyer, I'm not sure if you know
that some people know it. Yes, I spent the first
ten years of my career as a tax lawyer with
a focus in the entertainment industry, but because I was
in Los Angeles, So when you're in Los Angeles, that's
the thing you focus on. But interestingly enough, when I
was in college, my dad's lawyer. My dad spoke to
(06:25):
his lawyer and said, you know, Michael wants to go
to law school. I was in high school. Michael wants
to go to law school. Can he work in your
law off is just to see what it's like to
work in a law office. I think, I said, of course, again,
but I would tell him the better idea was, you know,
go get a job working with people working with me.
You won't learn much as a you know, clerk in
a law firm. Yeah, it'll give you a picture of
(06:46):
what a law firm is like, but it won't give
you the life experience you need. And you know what
I did then, because I always love working with kids,
I ended up going being a camp counselor, and I
actually got probably better benefit out of that in my career, honestly,
because the lesson you learn from camp counseling is the
lesson you learn from the kids. It's like the lessons
you learn from teaching. You actually, if you're a good teacher,
you probably learn a lot from your students as well
(07:08):
as I'm learning from you. So it's just life's journeys,
is you know. And I was a good camp counselor.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
I'm sure you are. Did you volunteer where you paid?
Speaker 3 (07:18):
Oh? No, I was paid. I won't I ask. You know,
I was a good camp counselor. They liked me, you know,
counselor Mike. They called me Mike counselor Mike.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
All right, well I might call you that too.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
There you go. So so Steve looking at the market,
and again it's like real estate, k con and the
stuff you focus on is like Maine and Maine right now.
And you know, in real estate you always say the location, location, location.
You want it to be at the corner of Maine
and Maine. You're at the corner of Maine and Maine.
Netflix recently announced two and a half billion dollar investment
(07:51):
in South Korean movies produced, et cetera. Can you talk
to us about how k kN really acted the global
audience and and the you know, just high level of
attraction to the global audience and to an audience that matters,
because my follow up to that is going to be,
you know, from a brand perspective. So so nowhere my
(08:14):
next qu I'm giving you a heads up of my
next question. Appreciate that I don't generally plan ahead, but no, look,
I think, you know, taking a step back.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
When I was growing up, the questions that I got
was like, are you Chinese or Japanese? And those are
the only choices I had to answer when somebody looked
at me and asked me who I was, uh, And
so then I'd say I'm Korean. And then the second
question was are you North Korean or South Korean? And
so those two questions, uh, you know, I think really
(08:46):
encapsulated thirty years ago what the world was like and
where Korea was on the map, certainly in terms of
the US sort of cultural zeitgeist, and and thank you
for putting us on Maine and Maine, but you know,
I think taking kind of this Korean phenomenon in its
broader global context, I think while it's certainly a story
(09:10):
of Korea and there's a lot to be proud about there,
I think it's actually also part of a bigger story
of really the globalization of content in general. When you
have platforms like a Facebook, who sort of started it
all perhaps, and a YouTube and an Instagram and then
now TikTok, successive younger generations have really realized sort of
(09:33):
no geographical boundaries in their content consumption. And so when
Netflix came along and really flattened the world, if you will,
and really made it smaller, so that anybody sitting at
home in the US, big town or small town USA
could enjoy shows from Israel, or could enjoy shows from Spain,
or can enjoy shows from South Korea, it was sort
(09:56):
of a great equalizer. And so I think the Korean
story is sort of a part of that and a
great beneficiary of that. Now, the fact is, I think
Korean content actually has been very good for a very
long time, and so it's sort of like my mom's
cooking in Korean food. It's like, why does Korean food
taste so good? Maybe it's because I'm Korean. And in fact,
(10:19):
what's actually true is that Korean food was good to
me because it was actually really good. And I think
it's the world that was sort of awakened.
Speaker 3 (10:27):
I like Matza Ball soup. It's because I'm Jewish.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
Yeah, well I love matza ball and then mats of
soup too, so you know, but it's it's because it's
really delicious. So I think that's kind of the story
also with Korea, and you know, there are so many
different factors that contributed everything from government policy and support
to well, we would like some credit at CJ, E
and M for being, you know, arguably the most important
(10:52):
Korean media company to push this development over the past
thirty years or so and being a you know, sort
of a driver of the globalization of Korean content to
of course the writers and the directors and the producers
and the actors and the talent everybody in the ecosystem
who've worked so hard to first and foremost please the
(11:14):
domestic audience, which still is at the core of what
we do for good storytelling. But now that domestic audience
is brought into the world. So, you know, CJ very
briefly for those of your listeners who may not be
totally familiar with our story, we really have two sort
of big things that we do. I would say one
is film and television production and the second is K
(11:36):
pop music. And there are lots of businesses around that,
but you know, we are part of the CJ Corporation,
the thirty billion dollar revenue company and the entertainment group
CJ E M M, where I'm the chief Global Officer
and the CEO of the US is the entertainment portion
of the CJ Group. And so that's sort of where
(11:57):
we are and the steed.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
You know, I told you I was going to ask
a follow up question. You know, as as kkon has
continued to become so important and continues to grow, you know,
how is your approach to the kind of business side
of it. Remember we always say that they call it
show business because there's the show and there's the business. Yes,
(12:19):
you know, the business side of it. Are you seeing
the uptake from the global brands wanting to reach and
engage with the audiences that you're attracting. Are they Are
they realizing the power of kkon?
Speaker 2 (12:30):
Yeah, it's a great question, Michael, and I think they're
slowly starting to. But I think there's just a huge
opportunity to engage us more and to sort of our
earlier point about the globalization of these platforms. You know,
and you're the expert at this, whereas perhaps most of
sort of brand or or performance marketing even or especially
(12:52):
we're very geo specific, right. You carve out territories and
here's my strategy for Korea, and here's my strategy for
you know, XYZ country, and you sort of think that
nobody is actually transversing these borders and that whatever.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
Missis you have. I learned this years ago working in
Hong Kong with the Shaw family and they owned the largest,
you know, Chinese language broadcast company in the world at
that time. And it wasn't based on just the population
of Hong Kong, obviously, it was the diaspora of Chinese
(13:29):
that would be able to enjoy that content around the world.
Obviously technology enabled that. And it's similar with the Korean
diaspora of sorts, with folks that are Korean, not just
living in Korea obviously.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Yeah, and I would actually go even beyond that, Michael,
And I'll give you some stats, because everybody loves some stats.
So Korean content, Well, let me just to zoom in
on CJ. CJ has been responsible for producing twenty two
top ten global Netflix TV shows over the past two
years alone. It's twenty to top ten global and it's
(14:03):
just it's not even Korea only, right, it's it's seventy
eighty one hundred and twenty countries that you would really
need the viewership to actually make it to the top
ten list on a Netflix Global chart, you know, in
Southeast Asia, so you're talking about Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia,
et cetera. Korean content cumulatively on a premium vod basis
(14:28):
accounts for thirty four percent of all viewing. That's compared
to twenty percent of all of Hollywood. So in fact,
if you walk around the streets of Southeast Asia, Korean
content is Hollywood to Southeast Asia. So I think, whereas
ten years ago, really it was about Korean's and the
Korean diaspora. Today, fast forward to twenty twenty three, with
(14:52):
the powerful global platforms like a Netflix, Disney plus Amazon
and so on, what you're seeing is that Korean content
has become almost its own genre that transcends borders, languages,
and ethnic backgrounds. So you know, it's just like there's
a fandom for horror or fandom for action, there's a
global fandom for Korean content. And I would say that's
(15:14):
both on the TV film side, as well as related
but a slightly different vector on kpop, which is sort
of overlapping but also different.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
You know, you make a good point and let me
kind of change directions here. The models that we're all
looking at historically of creating content, selling and licensing it.
We're seeing the challenge that huge content engines are feeling
in this kind of new world. Yes, can you talk
(15:46):
to us about where you think monetization is. I mean,
are we going to see advertiser funded programming as a
new you know, we've talked about it forever. Are we
going to see advertisers, you know, not just buying thirty
second spots? Obviously, you know is an old story, but
it's never really gotten the traction that everybody expected it
too in our world? Is that Is that one of
(16:06):
the things we're going to see starting to happen?
Speaker 2 (16:08):
I think so. And you know, I think what you're
seeing is like what's old is new again. You know,
you HARKing back to the Hallmark channels and it's kind
of like, you know, operators branded soap operas. So I
think to bring this all back to that question, Michael,
with this sort of globalization of content and content having
no geographic boundaries. I think it's a huge opportunity for
(16:31):
content creators like us and marketers who listen to this show,
sort of an amazing untapped opportunity. And then you know,
of course things like you know, content and commerce, and
in our conversations with brands, you know, talking about how
kind of the chief content officers now the hottest title
(16:51):
in brand companies because the stories of the products is
almost are as important as the products themselves.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
Well, see what I would tell you is I rarely
and I say this frequently, but I rarely have seen
the word commerce lately not modified by the word content, right,
exactly content And that's what we and in fact, the
part that I didn't talk about.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
For CJ, we actually have a huge commerce division within
the entertainment group, things like TV shopping where actually we
do operate retail source. We're very familiar with commerce and
brands and what they might need. So but to bring
it back, I think, you know, I think the industry
pundits like to say, we're in the post peak TV
era now, and whether you're a content creator or the platforms,
(17:36):
you need to find other ways to monetize beyond just
kind of the core business of producing and selling. And
I think not only from kind of a supplier mindset,
but from the demand side. I think, you know, when
we're skipping fifteen thirty second ad spots in favor of content,
I think it's a very natural platform to be able
(17:57):
to tell the brand stories and to integrate natural products
and services within the larger storytelling, of course, without diluting
the authenticity of the stories themselves, which we really keep
you know, sort of protective of so yes, So I
do think that companies, sort of modern media companies of
today need to think beyond the traditional core of just
(18:19):
production and licensing to a more holistic view of their business,
whether it's merchandising or commerce, or product integration, product placement,
and really think about it more openly. And in fact,
what we've seen is because we have already done some
very impactful integrations of products within Korean dramas, but mainly
(18:41):
they have been the Korean offices of products, whether it's
global CPS.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
That goes to and Steve that goes to the question
I was asking earlier about you know, brands to engage
outside of you know, Korean based, I was going to say,
and I don't want you to answer me giving me
Samsung as the example, and so I didn't say that,
but you know, and I know that doesn't isn't what
you mean because it might be Unilever but based out
of Korea, not Unilever based out of London.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
This see exactly that That's actually what I was saying.
So for example, you know in ours or others, you know,
for example, the subway chain actually you know in it.
So you're like, why is this character always eating subway
sandwiches in this Korean drama? You know you might have
or this brand of you know, chocolate bar from somewhere.
But that's my point is that if you are sitting
(19:31):
as a global brand owner on a global basis, whether
you're US or European based, it is no longer I think, well,
there are reasons for why things have to be geographic
and targeted, of course, but using Korean content is one
example in a platform.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
And look famous Bates Advertising and the reason I'm modifying
what I just said by giving credit to Baits Advertising.
I used this expression once in an article I wrote
years ago, twenty five years ago, and I got a
cease and desist letter from Bates Advertising, which doesn't exist anymore.
It's part of WPP now. But they owned the expression
I'm about to use and had trademarked it, and I
(20:10):
didn't know. I thought it was just a term of speech,
think globally, act locally. Yes, I just thought that was
good logic. I didn't realize it was a you know,
they also invented for M and MS it melts in
your mouth, not in your hands, so they protected that
as well. But it was really interesting that that concept
was a trademarked expression and you still give that advice
(20:33):
to marketers today.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
It is. And you know, I think, and I'll take
the counter position a bit on that. I think, think globally,
act locally. I think perhaps you could append something else
to it, you know, sort of, because the boundaries between
thinking globally and thinking locally and acting locally and acting
globally are porous.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Now, very very very they don't exist anymore. Let Steve,
I'll dumb this down. We moved to California. My family
moved to California from New York in nineteen fifty three.
So yes, I'm that old, and I wasn't just born either,
so and when we moved here, unusually I had a
(21:18):
bi coastal life in the fifties, which wasn't the standard
because you didn't just travel like that. But because my
grandparents and my close relatives still lived in New York,
we would go back more often because my mom mised
her family and you know, as we do, and I
grew up with much more of an East Coast experience
than my friends in California. And it got down to
(21:41):
the basics, like I'd come back from the summer in
New York and my mother would take me shopping for
school clothes. As one davoo. I didn't wear a uniform
back then, so you'd go, you know, you'd go shopping
for the clothes for the new school year, and my
mother would take me shopping in New York. And I'd
come back to California, and I dressed differently than everybody.
And this was in the same country. Obviously, it was
(22:04):
when it was a very stark difference between the left
coast and the right coast, as we say, but you're
saying that same thing on a global basis today. Today,
no matter where I bought my clothes, I'd be dressing
the same as anybody walking down the street. And soul
I mean effectively, So those barriers don't exist anymore in culture,
(22:24):
you know, generally speaking, So then why should they in
content and in marketing and all of that other than
the tweak you need to do for local if it
has you know, unique characteristics.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Yeah, and I would say, you know, some markets are
more sort of globally in tune, if you will, versus
some other markets that are relatively sort of isolated, you know,
relatively speaking. But I would say Korea, you know, I
would Korea if if any of your listeners have visited koreaan,
they would know it's actually quite a trendy. And I
(22:57):
say that in a positive very much so. And so
you know, somebody from LA or New York City visiting
Soul would feel actually sort of natural and the spiritual similarize.
Speaker 3 (23:09):
I can speak to that, you know, visited Soul, I
can speak to that.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Yeah, So I think that that's part of this. And
you know, the top luxury brands are using K pop
and K drama, you know, spokespersons and ambassadors to really
represent their brands on a global basis. Now, so this
sort of fashion, content and even technology, Korea is really
(23:33):
one of those sort of globally integrated centers that often
lead and in fact it is viewed as a market
because of its density and size. And half of the
fifty million population live in or around Soul now, so
twenty five million sort of consumer base living on top
of each other in a very tech forward and fact.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Two thousands of mass superiors.
Speaker 2 (23:55):
And so it is a massive, dense, peatra dish of
exploration that global brands and technology companies have effectively used
to be sort of a you know, canary in the
coal mine in some ways what would happen? So yeah,
and I would say Korea is very much of that
global sort of fabric now, and which is to your
(24:17):
earlier question of why one of the reasons why Korean
content has been so globally appealing is while it still
retains and parasite on one of our movies, that one
the oscars I mentioned is a perfect example. It's a
very local story of class struggle and kind of the
realities of what you know, sort of lower income families
(24:38):
sort of have to go through in modern Soul at
the same time and hit upon this global theme of
class struggles and economic disparity and and what that means
to pride and to family dynamics and to kind of
definitions of success and happiness for that, those are global
themes that this movie tapped in. So to sort of
(25:01):
translate that to the global marketer, I would say that
whether it's K pop and we have you mentioned ki
Kan before, k Kon is basically the world's largest Kpe
pop music culture festival that we throw CJ started a
twelve years ago. Last August, we had one hundred and
forty thousand people descend into LA. We do these things
(25:23):
four times a year. La riod in Saudi Arabia and Tokyo, Japan, Bangkok, Thailand.
LA attracted, you know, thirty three percent white Caucasian, thirty
two percent Hispanic, twenty eight percent Asian, and of the Asian,
Koreans were a minority, so you'd be actually hard to
find Koreans and Kkon you would love more likely to
(25:47):
run into a Hispanic you known jeds. So this is
I think an educational process for the world and sort
of anybody who's sort of twenty six or seven or
younger very much is aware of K pop and Korean drama.
Speaker 3 (26:04):
Don't cut out the old guys. I'm aware of it.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Well, no, you are different. Not everybody is Michael Casson
and that's why you are. You are the Manned legend.
But you know other other than Michael Cassen and few
of those. I think the world is awakening more and
more to that when BTS is charting one of the
top albums in the world, you know, or Black Pink
or you know, a global top you know, Netflix show
(26:28):
is Korean people are absolutely taking note. But it's funny.
The farther you get away from the US and close
you get to Korea, the influence of Korean culture is
much more directly sort of felt, and I think the
US is almost sort of late in arriving to through
the phenomenal of Korean content.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
Not surprising, so Steve, you know, you're talking about it
continuing to seed, you know, in a global place. What's
what's the next new project, what's the next new thing,
What's what are we going to hear out of out
of c Jay, you know, in terms of what's coming.
Speaker 2 (27:03):
Yeah, very excited. I would say couple of big themes
for us. One is actually and it just showed through
our recent movie with A twenty four it's called Past Lives.
I recommend everybody go watch that movie. It's now available
on streaming too, on I think Amazon and other places.
But it's a story of a couple, if you will,
(27:24):
who met in kindergarten and their childhood days in Korea
and one immigrated to Canada I think it was, and
later in their adult life they sort of reconvene two
different worlds, Korea and the US. Past Lives is not
a Korean movie, but it's not exactly just an American movie.
It's really a blending of geographies and cultures, which is
(27:45):
in fact our lives today. So I think we're going
to see a lot more of these US Korea sort
of co productions where it's very difficult to define. Is
this a foreign quote unquote foreign film or foreign show?
Our American show? Well, it's actually our show.
Speaker 3 (28:04):
It's like the old. It's the old you're too young
to remember. But SERTs the the the lozenge. They used
to say. The commercial was Searts as a candy mint,
and then the other person way now SERTs as a
breath mint. So you know which which is it? Right?
It's both?
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Yeah, And I think we're in that world. So I
think you're going to see a lot more of those
efforts for us. You know, we acquired an amazing studio
from Endeavor called Endeavor Content that we've renamed Fifth Season.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
So we have a a you know.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
They they did the producers of Severance and Nine Perfect Strangers, Tokyovice,
some of these cultural iconic shows of today. Uh, and
then with all of the.
Speaker 3 (28:43):
You have to put a plug in. My son was
was was the guy who found Tokyovice when he was
partnering with John Lesher.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
So I I love Tokyovice and I did as well.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
And my son was part of putting that package together.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Yeah, and look, Tokyovice, here's a story of.
Speaker 3 (29:01):
A rout father. I shouldn't say that on our podcast.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
That's okay. Well no, And so American journalist living in
Japan who studied in Japan talking, you know, taking the
Police eat in Tokyo gat. Is that an American show
or a Japanese Well, it's sort of kind of both, right,
and maybe it has a little bit of a US perspective.
But I think we're going to see more and more.
And CJ is very excited to be at that cusp
(29:26):
and at that intersection of this global local What does
it mean is it a mint breath mint or a
candy cert mint or whatever. You know, that's sort of
our where we are today.
Speaker 3 (29:35):
And well, there you go. I'm glad.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
It is. Yeah, So that's that's one. And then yeah,
I mean, we're just excited generally about the rise of
K pop as a global phenomenon for brands, et cetera.
So we're in the process of actually setting up sort
of a multicultural agency within CJ to help brands connect
with K pop stars and Korean content across border. So
(30:00):
these are some exciting initiatives come in our way.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Well, Steve Chung, I want to thank you for spending
this time with us on Good Company. I learned a lot.
I'm certain our audience will as well. I appreciate you,
and I appreciate you making the talk.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
It's all good, Michael.
Speaker 3 (30:20):
I'm Michael Casson. Thanks for listening to Good Company.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Good Company is a production of iHeartRadio Special. Thanks to
Lena Peterson, chief Brand Officer and Managing Director of Media
Link for her vision I'm Good Company, and to Jen Sealey,
Vice President Marketing Communications of Media Link for programming amazing
talent and content
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