[K Changers](18) Rising Rookie Ensign, Behind Him '17-Year SM Man' Was There

Rookie N.Ssign Gains Attention with Over 200,000 Initial Sales
Big Popularity in Japan Led by Offline Marketing
'17 SM Man' CEO Leads the Project

The sales volume within one week after an album release is called the 'initial sales volume.' Even rookie groups from major entertainment companies find it difficult to surpass the 100,000 initial sales mark. Only 12 teams have ever broken through the 100,000 initial sales barrier. Most idols who have now grown into top-tier artists had initial sales volumes ranging from a few thousand to tens of thousands at their debut, as their fanbase had not yet fully formed.

Rising Rookie N.SIGN (Photo by n.CH Entertainment)

Recently, there is a male idol group from a small to mid-sized entertainment company that surpassed 200,000 initial sales with their debut album. They are 'n.SSign,' under n.CH Entertainment. Their album 'Wormhole,' released last month, recorded initial sales of 207,227 copies. They are especially popular in Japan and are emerging as the next generation of K-pop stars. They are also planning an 'arena-level (over 10,000 seats)' tour in Japan at the end of the year.

n.CH Entertainment, which is nurturing n.SSign as its main IP (intellectual property), posted sales of 23 billion KRW and an operating profit of 3 billion KRW last year. Although not large in scale, it is a solid company with an operating profit margin of 13%. Its main business areas are artist and actor management, as well as program and drama production. Now entering its seventh year, the company has prepared to soar even higher by putting n.SSign on a successful trajectory.

Steadily Building from the Ground Up

N.SIGN, which succeeded in word-of-mouth popularity through performances (Photo by n.CH Entertainment)

n.SSign was the winning team of Channel A's audition program 'Youth Star' aired last year. n.CH Entertainment collaborated with broadcasters and focused on securing overseas fans, especially in Japan, from the audition stage. They uploaded the audition program on Abema (ABEMA), Japan's largest OTT (online video service) platform, to gain exposure. Abema is a platform favored by K-pop fans in Japan. The audition program, which did not succeed domestically, ranked first in the K-pop category on Abema for six consecutive weeks.

Another secret to their popularity is the offline marketing they steadily built from the ground up. Over the course of last year, they toured various cities in Japan at least once a month, holding performances and fan meetings. After fans saw n.SSign's solid skills in person and word of mouth spread, their fanbase gradually grew. Since it was before their official debut, they performed songs from limited edition albums sold only at concerts. These albums were not available through official distribution channels.

This approach differed from the current marketing trend of spending billions of won solely on SNS promotion before debut. The result was successful. They completed the 'Zepp Tour'?a challenging tour even for rookie groups in Japan?with great success. The Zepp Tour involves holding solo concerts sequentially at Zepp venues in major Japanese cities. Each venue has a capacity of about 3,000 seats. They met over 20,000 attendees through 12 Zepp Tour performances across five Japanese cities. In Japan, being able to hold a Zepp Tour alone is considered enough to sustain a career as a singer.

17 Years as an 'SM Man' as CEO

n.CH Entertainment CEO Changhwan Jeong (Photo by n.CH Entertainment)

At the center of the n.SSign project is CEO Jung Chang-hwan of n.CH Entertainment. He is a remarkable figure who started as a regular employee at SM Entertainment and even served as CEO of its subsidiary SM C&C. He spent the period from 2000 to 2017 at SM, when SM was synonymous with K-pop. He is especially well known for leading the planning of 'SM Town Live,' a joint concert of SM artists. SM Town was a huge success. There is even a theory that the origin of K-pop lies in the extensive media coverage when SM Town was first held in Paris, France, in 2011. Jung left SM in 2017 and founded n.CH. He also concurrently served as head of the music business division overseeing CJ ENM's music operations from 2018 to 2020.

n.CH is like a trophy that CEO Jung won by fighting against difficult circumstances. A psychology graduate from Yonsei University, he once had to give up his dream of music due to family financial difficulties. Although he loved music enough to participate in a band, he first entered society as a new employee at a general corporation because he had to repay his parents' debts. After working about three years at Hyundai Department Store and paying off all debts, he moved forward toward his dream of working in music. That was when he joined SM. Through various experiences in music producing, management, concerts, musicals, and drama planning at SM, he eventually established his own company.

n.SSign's attack on the Japanese market is considered impossible without the overseas network CEO Jung built up in the industry. n.SSign plans to release a Japanese-language album while conducting their year-end tour in November. They have also signed a seven-year exclusive contract with n.CH Entertainment, preparing to soar even higher. Recently, they secured 6 billion KRW in investment from Japan's Rakuten, securing 'ammunition' for global expansion.

CEO Jung Chang-hwan said, "I will further develop and succeed in all business areas, including music, drama production, and actor management," adding, "My goal is to build a global company based on entertainment."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.