Venturing into the entertainment industry? Azuki hires former Hollywood executive as COO: We are in the "post-NFT world"

The well-known blue-chip NFT Azuki announced yesterday that it will hire former Hollywood and FOX executive Steve Chung as its Chief Operating Officer, in an attempt to expand its business beyond NFTs. Chung is expected to assist in growing Azuki's fan base and developing more diversified sources of revenue. Source

Azuki Hires Former Hollywood Executive as COO

Azuki's latest announcement reveals the appointment of senior entertainment industry professional Steve Chung as the Chief Operating Officer of the team:

Chung has accumulated extensive professional knowledge during his time at CJ ENM, Hollywood, and FOX, where he propelled the Korean entertainment industry globally and fostered development in Hollywood. Now, he is set to be a game-changer in expanding Azuki's IP and bridging the anime industry with web3.

Prior to this, Chung mentioned in an interview with The Block:

In some ways, we are already in a "post-NFT world," but we have over 50,000 passionate communities and characters, as well as a clear path to leverage this to tell stories.

Reportedly, Chung has previously held roles such as Global Director at Korean entertainment giant CJ ENM Entertainment, CEO of CJ ENM USA, and Chief Growth Officer at FOX.

Azuki Actively Diversifies its Layout

To enhance brand competitiveness and survive in a market with reduced transaction royalties, various blue-chip NFTs are actively expanding their businesses beyond digital collectibles and shifting towards content, gaming, and commercialization of creations.

Among these, the most well-known are Pudgy Penguins and Azuki.

Pudgy Penguins

Pudgy Penguins integrates its business model through the launch of physical toys and its own domain, coupled with channel marketing and brand management, connecting with its metaverse project and game Pudgy World to achieve integration and sustainability.

Selling toys and water, NFT-licensed products Pudgy Penguins and Ape Water enter the retail industry

Azuki

On the other hand, Azuki actively builds a worldview exclusive to its anime culture, collaborates with renowned ad agency Dentsu to produce the anime anthology series "Enter The Garden" based on its IP.

Currently, the first episode has garnered over 1 million views on YouTube.

Azuki's team Chiru Labs collaborates with renowned anime director Satoru Takahashi to release the series by year-end

NFT Brand Transformation and Business Expansion Are Imperative

2021, widely hailed as the "NFT year," witnessed an unprecedented explosion in NFT technology and applications, with the overall market value surpassing $40 billion at one point.

However, the good times did not last, as the market value has been shrinking since this year, with a decline of over 48%, and trading volume performance has been somewhat lackluster.

Twitter DeFi KOL 2Lambroz.eth recently tweeted that, like meme coins, 90% of NFTs will disappear, with only a few outstanding projects like Pudgy Penguins surviving.

In January of this year, the Central Bank of Taiwan specifically posted about this, stating that the essence of the NFT market is a bubble.

Central Bank of Taiwan criticizes NFT: The hype has subsided, facing a life-or-death situation!

In the fiercely competitive and rapidly evolving crypto industry, NFT projects must focus on their IP and business content, diversify, tap into consumer pain points, create clear and scalable products, and actively consider brand management and marketing to successfully survive in the market.