When K-pop boy band ENHYPEN met "Tayo the Little Bus"... enter "Billy Poco", the result of a collaboration that follows in the footsteps of the best of alliances between K-pop idols and Korean animated icons.

Think "Hot Sauce", by NCT Dream X PinkFong in May; "YumYum" by girl band Loona and Olive Studio’s 3D animated series "Cocomong"; and Pororo’s popular alliances with Oh My Girl to create "Boggle Boggle" and Momoland’s 2019 "Banana Chacha", which has topped kids’ music charts for two years.   

The tie-up also marks the beginning of a whole new journey towards creating “your new K-pop destination ENHYPEN”, says ICONIX, the Korean animation company behind well-known Korean properties, Pororo and Tayo. 

"Billy Poco", released in August this year, rides a trend that blends two Korean phenomena – idol bands and wildly popular animated characters in the best traditions of "Pororo" and "Tayo" – to create a new movement, popularly dubbed “kids-pop”.  

The official "Billy Poco" music video on ENHYPEN’s YouTube channel has more than 6.2 million views. Viewership has soared to more than eight million on "Tayo The Little Bus" YouTube channel.  

ENHYPEN has also released a remake of "Hey Tayo", the original theme song for the TV series, "Tayo the Little Bus", which airs on Korean channel EBS in Korea and on multiple platforms around the world. The new version has topped 27 million views across all platforms. 

The "Billy Poco"/"Hey Tayo" singles are the first kids-pop animation tie ups for the seven-member ENHYPEN, which is part of the same stable as Korea’s global chart-topping superband, BTS. 

ENHYPEN was created in 2020 following survival competition show "I-Land". The group is part of Belift Lab, a label created by Hybe Corporation and CJ ENM. 

ICONIX’s engagement in the K-pop/kids animation space goes back to the inaugural alliance that matched animated character Pororo with Momoland, the Korean girl group formed following 2016 reality show, "Finding Momoland". 

The aim was to find a way to grow the audience age group for ICONIX’s iconic animated properties. 

“In the children’s content market, where there exist only nursery rhymes, ICONIX wanted to create K-pop for children that can be listened to by an extended age group,” the company says, adding that the new singles are “designed as content that is easily approachable for children to sing and safe content for mothers to expose to their children”.

YG Entertainment’s Rovin, CEO of Roschild, is in charge of the lyrics and arrangement. ICONIX owns the songs’ IP. 

The K-pop idol initiative is part of a turbocharged distribution acceleration into the digital entertainment space for Tayo, a little blue bus created by ICONIX Entertainment more than 10 years ago, as well as for "Pororo The Little Penguin". 

Already widely available across platforms, the properties also have a new home on streaming platform, Tayo+. 

Tayo+ houses the entire content collections of ICONIX’s characters – Pororo, Tayo and Titipo, encompassing 3,000 unique videos across series, specials, song & dance, storytime and learning. 

Tayo+ is expanding across Asia with telcos and other platforms, says global distributor LYD, which represents ICONIX’s content worldwide. 

On its radar are everything from documentaries targeting young audiences and on-ground activities to apps and co-production. 

Ultimately, LYD says, the aim is to maximise the full strength of ICONIX’s powerful IP.

Sponsored content. Published in ContentAsia 4 Oct 2021 eNewsletter