I즈 Entertainment has brought in Sang-hoon Cha, former Vice President of Kakao Entertainment, as the new Chief Strategy Officer (CSO). The appointment is aimed at reinforcing company-wide strategy formulation and execution in alignment with the upcoming service launches and growth phases.

The newly appointed CSO Cha is a strategic expert with over 20 years of experience driving business strategy and new ventures across the IT, platform, and content industries. After stints at NHN and KTF, Cha co-founded Podotree—the predecessor to Kakao Page—in 2010, overseeing overall operations and participating in the growth stages of IP, content, and platform businesses.

Later, serving as CSO of Kakao Entertainment, Cha spearheaded domestic story business strategies and new ventures, and in 2023, took the helm as CEO of Levels, a joint venture between Dunamu and HYBE, pushing forward with IP and fandom-based platform businesses.

Drawing on comprehensive experience ranging from startups to business expansion, alongside proven IP, content, and platform capabilities in the webtoon and entertainment sectors, Cha will oversee the management and business strategy of I즈 Entertainment moving forward. The plan is to seek the next stage of growth through mid-to-long-term strategy refinement, discovering new business opportunities, and expanding strategic partnerships.

CSO Cha stated, "In the AI era, the boundaries between enjoying content and communicating are gradually blurring. Focusing on these changes, I will connect the company's competitiveness and potential to various growth opportunities and contribute to expanding corporate value."

CEO Namgoong Hoon remarked, "We expect that the joining of CSO Cha will allow us to connect our existing capabilities with new opportunities to create strategic synergy. We will broaden the company's growth foundation and design mid-to-long-term strategies together."

I즈 Entertainment plans to unveil a chatbot game messenger in the latter half of the year where humans and virtual humans coexist, communicate, and enjoy things together. It aims for a messenger where communication itself can be enjoyed like content by combining chatbot, avatar, and gaming elements.

Having verified the potential of game-type chatbots through 'Sword Raising' (Sword Growing), introduced as a KakaoTalk chatbot, the company intends to develop this into a core differentiating element and provide diverse entertainment.