Berriz, Kakao Entertainment's global K-culture fan platform, said on the 10th that it will strengthen its fandom expansion strategy through "My Cabinet," a service that stores records of fandom activities in a digital space.
My Cabinet is a service that turns every small trace of activity fans leave on Berriz—such as posts, comments and likes—into digital items. MD (merchandise) like albums or official light sticks purchased at the Berriz Shop are displayed as digital items in a digital space on the mobile screen called the "cabinet." Photos that artists upload to the community can be kept in a Polaroid format, and fans can decorate their own space with stickers featuring album graphics or characters.
The company said it applied the "dakku, a Korean term for enthusiastically decorating one's diary," and "decorating a locker" trends, which are popular among young people, to the K-pop fandom. Berriz unveiled a total of 45 digital cabinets and more than 450 items, including for IU, Monsta X, Ive, (G)I-dle and WOODZ.
My Cabinet is part of Kakao Entertainment's strategy to strengthen its fandom platform. Kakao Entertainment aims to build a "fan playground" ecosystem that goes beyond simply distributing content, making fans stay longer and come back repeatedly. The more fan activity data accumulates, the higher the fandom's loyalty and the longer the time spent. The industry sees investment in "fan experience" as the key variable that will determine future competitiveness of fandom platforms, as it can translate into tangible revenue such as merchandise purchases and paid services.
In fact, since introducing Melon in 2004, Kakao Entertainment has provided "things to enjoy" to K-pop fandoms for 22 years through various platforms and services. It has not stopped at unilaterally delivering music content, but has continued to create content that communicates with fandoms and allows fans to participate directly and enjoy it. A Kakao Entertainment official said, "Now, through Berriz, we will go beyond communication between artists and fans to provide a space where fans within the fandom can play and communicate with each other in various ways."
Melon has invited some fans who achieved a "closeness" score of 99 with their favorite artists within Melon to the offline fan meetup "STAGE 99," and is also running the offline project "THE SOUND," where artists and fans meet in person on site to have in-depth conversations about music. In addition, on the music chat service Melon Music Wave, it holds real-time chat events with comeback artists participating directly, and selects some participating users by lottery to offer even video calls with the artists.
1theK, which started as a music video channel, has also planned and produced a variety of original content to strengthen communication with major K-pop fandoms. Notably, "1theKILLPO" selects a song's kill point section through global fan voting and introduces multifaceted changes in that section—from the artist's outfits and style to filming techniques and lighting, sets and stage effects. Rather than stopping at one-way content consumption, it provides a two-way experience where fans directly influence the outcome.