According to Exclusive report by Korean media outlet Edaily published on Naver on August 1, 2026, Choi Jae-woo, CEO of F&F Entertainment, built the young company by prioritizing branding and content strategy over traditional casting and trainee development. Drawing on more than a decade in investment and music distribution, Choi said he first mapped the areas where he lacked expertise. Competing with major agencies on scouting and long-term training looked like a losing bet. Instead, he treated audition programs as dual-purpose platforms that introduce both the artists and the label at the same time. Partnering with SBS, F&F launched the girl group UNIS through Universe Ticket and the boy group AHOF through Universe League. UNIS quickly built an overseas following. AHOF’s debut mini-album Who We Are sold more than 360,000 copies in its first week, and the follow-up The Passage topped that figure. Music-show wins and rookie awards followed, helping the agency establish itself faster than most newcomers.
Choi described the pre-debut fandom created by the shows as the key advantage and stressed that long-term value comes from expanding artist intellectual property across albums, concerts, merchandise, and ads rather than relying only on album sales. Future plans center on diverse new IP through internal work and external partnerships, not simply more large-scale auditions.
F&F Entertainment itself is a relatively recent player. The label was established in early 2023 as a subsidiary of the fashion company F&F, with Choi brought in as CEO after years at Kakao Entertainment. UNIS, an eight-member multinational group with Korean, Japanese, and Filipino members, debuted in March 2024 with the EP We Unis. The group later scored its first music-show win with “Swicy” and has expanded into Japan with a mini-album released in July 2026 plus North American and Asian fan activities.
AHOF, the nine-member boy group whose name stands for “All-time Hall Of Famer,” debuted in July 2025. Its lineup draws from South Korea, Australia, China, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Japan. The rapid sales and early awards put the group among the stronger debut performances for boy groups that year, and members later extended contracts.
International fans have largely welcomed the interview. Accounts tracking AHOF shared the full translation and praised the focus on pre-debut relationships and IP growth. Some supporters used the moment to urge the company to give every member consistent visibility, arguing that strong individual brands among the multinational lineup strengthen the whole group.
Overall reaction frames the strategy as a practical alternative for a new label competing in a crowded industry.
