Agency will create 'big killer content'

Song Sung-gak, president of the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), talks to reporters at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in central Seoul on Tuesday. / Courtesy of KOCC

By Baek Byung-yeul

Song Sung-gak, the newly appointed president of the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) pledges to cultivate “big killer Korean content within three years.”

“Korea’s content business, which has seen significant growth over the years, has been slowing down recently. This is because of a lack of big killer content,” Song said at a meeting with reporters at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, Tuesday. It was the first meeting between local media and Song after he was appointed as the agency’s third chief last December.

“To maintain growth, KOCCA will endeavor to create killer content that can get attention from around the world. This could range from films to video games,” the president added.

KOCCA is an affiliate organization of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism. It was founded in 2009 in a bid to ramp up support for Korea’s content creators in various fields such as fashion, publishing, film, drama, video games and music.

Before his appointment as president, Song worked at Cheil Worldwide, the country’s leading advertising company, from 1982 to 2006. He also served as CEO of video art production company Mercury Post for eight years prior to being appointed.

The new head said he will utilize his expertise and knowledge from advertising during his three-year term.

“I can proudly say that I am an experienced creator who has been in advertising and the image production business for over three decades. As a leader with dexterity and creativity, I will cultivate my employees as a capable producer who has a good record in supporting local creators,” he said.

As for KOCCA’s plans for 2015, Song said he will implement a “select and focus strategy.”

“We have a budget of 211.1 billion won ($195 million) for this year. Some may think it is too much, but it is almost the same amount of money that an automobile company invests when it launches a minor-changed vehicle. To maximize effectiveness, KOCCA will use a select and focus strategy,” Song said.

“We are running 105 projects this year, and I found out some are just a waste of our budget. After deliberating carefully, I will cut some of the projects if they are judged pointless,” he added.

Song also vowed to concentrate on fostering an ecosystem for the country’s cultural content creating sector, denying that the agency will stop investment on relatively unpopular cultural content.