K-Content News

[Interview] Mr. Seong Woong, CEO, 7 Sloth: “I’d like to see Neul become synonymous with rest and peace of mind”

- The company name 7 Sloth is quite interesting. Is there a story behind it?

7 Sloth means exactly what you'd expect it to mean - seven sloths. Seven of us started the business, and we were all friends from college and graduate school. All of us were in our thirties, but we were all doing our own thing in life, taking things a bit slower than most people our age. We told ourselves we were ‘living like sloths’ and decided to start a company so we could continue to live on our own terms. Most of the original seven have moved on since, leaving just two of us (CEO Seong Woong and Director Ryu Jin-ho), but we’re still set on doing things our way. We currently have 15 artists on board with us.

- Are there any new contents you have in the works?

Our next character is an alpaca who heals by singing. It’s the story of the ‘Yo Yo Snickers’ band, a group of Snickers-loving endangered animals that goes around busking. We're thinking about bringing music together with animation. There was this band called ‘Gorillaz’ in the UK who never actually showed their faces and had animated characters do their music videos. We're thinking about combining our contents with a 5 to 6-person band to actually release albums, and we're also considering developing characters to match music from bands that already exist. The synopsis is that our little alpaca is going to travel the country looking for band members, finding people who need comfort and playing music for them.

- How helpful was the funding from KOCCA?

Obviously the funding was instrumental. It gave us the chance to develop our content exactly the way we'd intended. We wouldn’t even have been able to attempt to do this without their funding. We didn’t have any connections at KOCCA, but they chose us simply because they liked our proposal for . And here we are now, with the whole Neul series and getting investment from China. We really appreciate the fact they chose to back us based on our content only, and not because of any personal connections.

- What are your plans for markets other than China?

Once we have the JV in China, we'll be using it as a base to launch into other markets. We currently have an MOU signed with a French company to produce a series for toddlers. We’ll be telling the story of Neul when he was a baby in this one. They have a solid market for toddler’s animations in Europe and other regions, and we expect them to be great opportunities for us.

- What’s your ultimate goal for ‘Sloth Neul’?

Kakao Friends currently dominates the character market for young people. We’d love to see our characters get as popular as Kakao Friends … maybe even seeing popup stores appearing here and there. We’d have ‘Neul Stores,’ where people can come to heal and restore peace of mind through various items and contents. We want them to feel that our characters ‘relax them inside.’ I’d like to see Neul become synonymous with rest and peace of mind. We hope to see Neul standing shoulder to shoulder with the most iconic characters out there. We hope that 7 Sloth’s characters give people rest, peace of mind, and small but certain happiness.