Blockchain-based integrated platform for fandom 4.0 innovation
The ALSA project considers the following issues as major problems in the development of model-entertainment and fandom culture.
The emergence of various types of social media and related services may improve the quality of each service through fair competition, but it has the fatal disadvantage of not being closely connected. Fans have to visit different social media platforms to communicate with celebrities, and they have no choice but to use different platforms to access music and video content. Additionally, in order to engage in consumer activities such as purchasing MD products related to celebrities or purchasing tickets, one must subscribe to another company’s service. The problem with these fragmented services is that fans must engage in fandom activities in a very inefficient and non-intuitive way.
Except for a small number of popular models and famous influencers, there are dark sides, such as it is difficult to participate in events or appear in productions, and also the profit generation through activities cannot be expected. So, recently, they have created channels on online video platforms such as YouTube and AfreecaTV (-domestic video SNS platform) and are generating revenue by producing and uploading their own content, but there are many difficulties in entering the platform and maintaining the channel in the early stages of activity. In the case of YouTube, there are very strict monetization conditions that require more than 1,000 subscribers and more than 4,000 hours of subscriber viewing time over the past 12 months, and the broadcaster (platform) takes a significant portion of the amount sponsored by fans and subscribers as a commission. In particular, in the case of Afreeca TV, a commission of 40%, which is close to half of the sponsorship amount, is charged to general broadcasters.
Recently, MD product marketing using influencers has been actively underway. In the case of influencer marketing, there are no restrictions on time and space compared to environments such as TV advertisements or magazine advertisements. Consumers can purchase products based on detailed product descriptions through influencers’ unboxing, haul, and product usage videos. However, this influencer marketing does not only have positive effects. Because there are still no clear advertising laws and guidelines for influencer marketing, there are many cases where the obligation to convey only objective information is easily violated or unverified products are exaggerated and falsely advertised. In addition, there is still no reliable platform that can check the information of all Asian influencers in the beauty and fashion fields in one place, so the need to solve these problems is increasingly emerging.
The current system structure of the model-entertainment market is centered around star models and relies only on star models. In fact , because of these structural problems, it is difficult for new models to properly stand out. Additionally, because some agencies still engage in their own wrong practices, unfair contracts, and fraud, new models are exposed to numerous risks. Now, through a systematic and organized structure, new models must also be connected to the production of various contents and be given the opportunity to compete fairly. In other words, for the development of the model -entertainment industry, it is necessary to discover and nurture unique and outstanding new models, and after that, planning skills to properly maintain and manage the models and establish a long–term business strategy so that everyone can work together are also important.
The era of Fandom 4.0 goes beyond being crazy about stars who have already been created, and now fans can actively interact with stars by directly discovering and nurturing next-generation star candidates . Already there are many stars who have risen to the global ranks through various audition programs of various broadcasting companies, and this is due to the enthusiastic support, active sponsorship, and voting participation of fans. However, recently, it was revealed that a certain broadcasting companie’s audition program had manipulated the voting, and this incident caused a great sense of betrayal to many fans and participants of the program. This was a typical problem that could occur because the program’s votes were a centralized voting system that could be manipulated. Existing voting systems cannot completely guarantee reliability because the entire system is managed by a central entity, and values can be forged or altered due to external attacks.
ALSA enables members of the model-entertainment ecosystem to discover the hidden talents of new Asian models and grow them into global star models through voting and sponsorship. And in the process, we share the value that each member can create and support everyone to coexist. In addition, through ‘Face of Asia’, a large-scale event held in 28 countries in Asia, and co-produced dramas, models from various Asian countries with infinite growth potential and famous local stars from each country are developed into celebrities of ALSA. Also, opportunities for them to participate in various contents will be provided. Furthermore, together with members of the ecosystem, we will build a shopping mall suitable for the smart consumer era where influencers and fans can share various MD products without advertising or marketing , and through this, it will be win-win for brands, influencers, and consumers all together.
ALSA provides models and influencers’ distributed social media channels and related platforms and service information in one place. Therefore, fans no longer have to visit or search for multiple platforms and services one by one, and since the ALSA platform only shows verified official channels and information, it minimizes the occurrence of situations where fans search individually and are exposed to fake accounts or spam sites. Furthermore, the ALSA platform provides integrated support for fans’ consumption activities for content and MD products related to models, thereby supporting more efficient fandom activities by eliminating existing hassles.
The ALSA Project partners with ALSAOC (Asian Model Festival Organizing Committee), which plays a leading role in the cultural content industry based on the Asian model network in 28 countries. ALSAOC can provide professional help in the growth of new models because it has long experience in the industry and has already established a relevant network. Through the collaboration between ALSAOC and the ALSA project , numerous existing members of ALSAOC can naturally be introduced to the ALSA platform. A systematic and organized model-entertainment system can dramatically reduce initial expenditures such as tuition and training costs and various fees that may be incurred by models and influencers . It also enables continuous production of various contents such as drama production, auditions, and proven beauty stores that can be linked in the future, so that providing a specialized platform for all related industries
In order to create a reliable voting and sponsorship system that cannot be manipulated by anyone, it must be prevented from being managed by a central entity. As a solution to this, ALSA will build a blockchain-based online voting and sponsorship system. The core characteristic of Blockchain is ‘decentralization’, and because the ledger containing data details is stored in distributed places rather than in one place, safe and transparent management of voting and sponsorship information is possible.
The main components of the ALSA project ecosystem for Fandom 4.0 innovation are as above. The three main components are 1) The ALSA platform that provides various services, 2) Users consisting of models, influencers, and fans, and 3) ALSA Token, which is mainly utilized between other two components to maintain a virtuous cycle in the ecosystem.
The key roles of the above three components can be summarized as follows.
ALSA PLATFORM
USER
ALSA TOKEN
[ASIA INFLUENCER PLATFORM]
The ALSA Global Project partners with ALSAOC (Asian Model Festival Organizing Committee), which plays a leading role in the cultural content industry based on the Asian model network in 28 countries, has long experience in the industry and has already established a relevant network. To support the growth and development of new models, the ALSA project supports the following professional businesses and services.
The ‘Asia Model Festival’, sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea, celebrated its 18th anniversary in 2023. ‘Asia Model Festival’ promotes Asian models and Asian fashion and beauty-related industries to the world, and conversely introduces worldclass brands and artists to Asia. This is the collection of global cultural contents and a key icon symbolizing Asia’s popular culture and arts industry.
Since models from 28 Asian countries participate in the event every year, information data on diverse and unique new models is collected and secured. Also discovering new star models every year in each country and signing contracts with various agencies.
In the future, ALSA will hold various events with models in various Asian countries and provide a variety of content such as model training at the Korean Academy, fashion shows, participation in survival programs, and award ceremonies.
ALSA operates an influencer academy for aspirants in various fields, including modeling, acting, advertising, and entertainment. Asia INFLUENCER MANAGEMENT experts with extensive experience and know-how, and through our own systematic and professional training programs, each influencer is trained to become next-generation media content leaders.
ALSA currently has 87 influencers from 28 countries and 57 million followers, and is recruiting new influencers who want to join in the production of various content such as fashion shows, advertisements, dramas, and movies. ALSA members are provided with effective marketing support using ALSA’s own network and infrastructure, opportunities for entertainment, fashion shows, and modeling activities, and support for casting in broadcasts, advertisements, dramas, and movies.
[Influencer Management Education Program]
[Fashion & Beauty Brand Development and Business Expansion]
Main activities will be based on events such as the ‘Asia Model Festival’ fashion show and contests, but we will also plan our own PB brand with great potential along with developing excellent products in collaboration with domestic and foreign designers and brand partners. We will secure intellectual property rights such as trademarks and copyrights by creating excellent product values. With these, we can utilize our Asian network and infrastructure to expand related businesses, and successfully establish the distribution of these products through product marketing services in each country.
The integrated platform being planned and developed by ALSA will be provided in WEB and APP format. Through the platform, various services such as real-time broadcasting, live streaming – MD product sales linkage, ALSA trading, ranking system through voting and sponsorship activities, and online video content will be available.
The details and features of the platform services are as follows:
ALSA Live Streaming
The ‘ALSA Real-Time Streaming Service’ does not just provide media content consumption, but seeks the following differentiation that is optimized for the model-entertainment market aimed at by the ALSA project.
Real-time Translation
The model-entertainment market is not concentrated in just one country, but is interacting with many countries around the world. As there are models and fans of various nationalities, there are bound to be inconveniences in communication between them due to language barriers. The ALSA platform supports models and fans of various nationalities to communicate smoothly without inconvenience through machine translation technology.
V-Commerce Support (Live Streaming – Linking MD Product Sales)
V-Commerce is an abbreviation for Video + Commerce , and is a method of purchase encouraging and selling products through video. It has high efficiency as it can convey a variety of information easily and quickly through video, which is difficult to provide through text and photos alone, and is growing rapidly in the e-commerce market due to the spread of smartphones. Fans can conveniently purchase products recommended by influencers while watching live streaming or video content.
ALSA Store (Shopping)
Recently, consumers in the beauty market are more interested in products recommended by lifestyle influencers rather than simple advertisements. Therefore, the purchase conversion rate is much higher than existing product sales marketing methods. Unlike general online stores, ALSA Store features ALSA Global ‘s own PB brands and MD products as our main products, as well as carefully selected beauty and fashion products recommended by models, influencers, and heavy users of the beauty industry from all around Asia. When we provide products, we specialize in selecting products more strictly, even though they are already recommended.
ALSA Online Video Content
We support VOD (Video On Demand ) services for various video contents such as movies, dramas, and broadcasts, including dramas produced by ALSA. Through the ALSA platform, you can watch video content anytime, anywhere, and you can also watch paid content for free simply by holding a certain amount of ALSA Tokens.
ALSA Ranking System
The real-time ranking status of models and influencers in the ALSA ecosystem will be transparently disclosed. Which means, the higher the model or the influencer is ranked, the more they can increase their own marketing power. Through the ALSA platform’s fair and reliable ranking system, fans can support and vote for their stars, so that they can directly contributing to increase the star’s influence and awareness. The following are ALSA’s two representative business models applied to the ALSA ranking system.
The following are ALSA’s two representative business models applied to the ALSA ranking system.
ALSA Voting
Fans can purchase voting rights with ALSA Token through the ALSA platform to exercise their voting rights. Voting can be done for models who participated in various events such as fashion shows, survival programs, parties, and award ceremonies hosted by the Asia Model Festival. Fans can raise the rankings of their favorite models by voting. As a model receives more votes, public interest naturally increases, so new activities and an influx of new fans can be expected as a result of the increased awareness of the model.
ALSA Sponsorship
The sponsorship ranking represents the total amount of the ALSA tokens each model has received. The benefits of the ranking are that the more ALSA TOKEN, which is gathered by sponsorship when settling the proceeds such as live streaming, content upload revenue, and MD product sales amount, is the lower the settlement fee incurred when models use the service, and there are additional benefits depending on the ranking. Above all, the ‘ALSA Sponsorship’ rankings accumulated with fan support show the ‘Fandom Power’ the absolute power of fans to support each model. So models will continue to work hard on their own to produce more diverse and higher-quality content.
ALSA Drama Crowdfunding
ALSA will support crowdfunding services to produce special dramas with viewers. This is not just sponsorship, but actors who will participate in the work can also be selected through direct voting and sponsorship, and drama preview invitations or MD products can be provided as a reward for participation in crowdfunding. Afterwards, when the drama production is completed, a portion of the profits generated from distribution or copyrights will be paid back to the participants according to the ratio of donations. Through this, participants can become new sponsors again with the corresponding amount and continue to fund various dramas.
