Dexter Studios (CEO: Kim Wook and Kang Jong-ik), a company specializing in visual special effects (VFX) and content, acquired Krema Worldwide (CEO: Son Dong-jin Son and Song Kyeong-woon), turning it into a subsidiary of Dexter Studios.
Dexter Studios held a board meeting on the 13th and announced on the 14th that it had signed an investment contract to secure management rights and a majority stake (66.7%) of Krema Worldwide. With this latest acquisition, Dexter Studios has now added three subsidiaries (film production company Dexter Pictures and sound production company Livetone were previously acquired by Dexter Studios) to its portfolio.
Krema Worldwide is a small giant with annual sales of KRW 24.7 billion (as of 2020). The company has grown steadily as a global advertising planning agency and integrated communication agency for large Korean companies, and has established a great reputation for its outstanding creative capabilities both at home and abroad. Since its founding in 2009, Krema Worldwide has won more than 16 awards in the digital category of various international advertising festival, and has been certified as an official partner of the Google Marketing Platform. Moreover, last year, the company expanded its business by entering the hyper-personalized marketing and live commerce business.
Prior to its decision to acquire Krema Worldwide, Dexter Studios signed an MOU with the company in May to “establish a strategic cooperative relationship for new media advertising and promotional content.” Since then, the two companies have been engaged in the joint production of short-form commercial content, the joint development and investment of metaverse-based immersive videos, and the brand ‘movercial’ projects.
The acquisition is expected to accelerate these joint ventures between the two companies. In particular, if Dexter Studios’ VFX technology, which has been proven through countless movies, TV shows, and theme park content, is added to Krema Worldwide’s human resources specializing in content planning, the partnership is expected to generate significant synergies moving forward.
The collaboration between Dexter Studios’ anticipated virtual production studio, which is set to launch by the end of the year, and Krema Worldwide is also leading to new expectations for both companies. Under the current circumstances where filming at overseas locations has become difficult due to the ongoing effects of COVID-19, using a virtual production studio will be a practical solution that can boost Dexter Studios’ competitiveness in the advertising market.
Dexter Studios’ CEOs Kim Wook and Kang Jong-ik said, “We are delighted with the opportunity to work with Krema Worldwide, with which we already had a pre-existing relationship thanks to our MOU.” They added, “If we can collaborate and maximize each other’s strengths, we are confident we can achieve remarkable results in the industry within a short period of time.”
Meanwhile, Dexter Studios is an all-in-one comprehensive content company engaged in content planning, shooting, production, and post-production processes. Its most notable productions are the ‘Along with the Gods’ series, which told an aggregate of more than 20 million tickets at the box office, ‘Ashfall,’ and ‘Escape from Mogadishu.’ As of the 10th, its latest film, ‘Escape from Mogadishu,’ has sold more than 3 million tickets at the box office, which is the most among all movies released so far this year.
