LSN : Daily Signals : AI will drive the future of K-pop’s first prosumers

Koyia perfumery asks customers to pay with time rather than money

Koyia, Sweden

Sweden – Swedish fragrance brand Koyia has introduced a forest-based retail concept where the only currency is time.

Visitors enter the unstaffed, cash-free store and spend 599 seconds, just under 10 minutes, in silent contemplation of nature before receiving a bottle of Koyia’s signature scent. Research shows this is the amount of time it takes for nature’s positive health benefits to begin taking effect.

The concept reflects a more synchronised approach to wellbeing that considers emotional, mental, physical, spatial and environmental health. Koyia’s products support this philosophy as they are made from locally sourced ingredients such as young spruce shoots, which are rich in phytoncides, natural compounds linked to stress reduction and improved wellbeing.

By asking customers to pay with their time, Koyia shifts value away from money and towards human experience. As identified in our New Codes of Value report, these are the values that consumers increasingly look for, including brand relationships that feel less transactional and more meaningful.

For further insights into how beauty brands are rethinking retail, read our Scent Retail Futures report.

Strategic opportunity

Value is no longer just about price but about share of life. Brands that create time-based exchanges and immersive rituals can deepen wellbeing, connection and loyalty

AI will drive the future of K-pop’s first prosumers

South Korea – K-pop pioneer Lee Soo-man has positioned artificial intelligence not as a threat, but as the engine of K-pop’s next global chapter. Speaking at the JoongAng 60th Anniversary Global Media Conference in Seoul, the founder of SM Entertainment and A2O Entertainment said, ‘AI will not replace us; instead, it will collaborate with us, coexist with us as partners.’

Lee, who coined the term ‘culture technology’ to describe K-pop’s structured idol production system, sees the future of music being shaped by a hybrid of celebrities and AI. His vision, dubbed Zalpha pop, targets Gen Z and Alpha generations, with content becoming the new language of global communication.

He described a future where fans become prosumers – consumer and producer – to co-create content in a decentralised cultural ecosystem. A2O’s collaboration with 4DV to create Infinite Studio, a tool which enables fans to generate music video variations, offers a glimpse of this model in action.

‘Korea should now become the global hub for producers, going beyond fostering artists to shaping the next civilisation,’ Lee said.

This reflects insights from our new Parasocial Relationships in 2030 report, which explores how AI is reshaping fandom through virtual influencers and personalised AI companions.

KPop Demon Hunters, Courtesy of Netflix, Global

Strategic opportunity

Explore partnerships or pilot projects where AI-powered tools collaborate with fans to generate music, art or marketing content. This could include generative AI storyboarding, lyric-writing assistants or customisable campaigns where fans tweak and remix official content

Stat: Study finds generative AI attacks are on the rise

AI imagery by The Future Laboratory, UK

Global – Generative AI is fuelling a sharp rise in cyberattacks, with 62% of organisations hit by deepfake incidents in a 12-month period, according to new research from Gartner.

The survey, conducted between March and May 2025 among 302 cybersecurity leaders in North America, EMEA and Asia-Pacific, reveals that AI systems are increasingly being exploited for social engineering and automated process manipulation.

Beyond deepfakes, 32% of companies reported prompt-based exploits that manipulated AI models to generate biased or harmful outputs. The infrastructure behind enterprise AI applications is also under fire, with 29% of respondents confirming attacks targeting chatbots and assistants through adversarial prompting (source: BW Marketing World).

Gartner warns that while 67% of cybersecurity leaders see genAI risks as requiring significant defence changes, sweeping overhauls are premature. Instead, firms should strengthen core security controls and build targeted measures, as adversarial AI use becomes a mainstream threat to business resilience.

Discover more AI insights in our Artificial Intelligence topic.