Naver’s “Nep Festa” venue was set up on Oct. 30 at Anderson C in Seongsu-dong, Seoul. Standing in front of the entry gate at the entrance, facial recognition was completed quickly without presenting a ticket or ID. The screen displayed guidance reading “Nep Festa entry”. It was an entry method using Naver Pay’s facial recognition authentication service, FaceSign.
Nep Festa, held by Naver for three days from Oct. 30 to Nov. 1, was set up to expand online-focused Naver Plus Membership benefits into offline. It features the combination of various technologies such as Naver’s entry authentication, payment and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) with performances and brand experiences.
The venue was decorated in green and black, symbolising Naver, and each floor of the building had brand booths across various categories such as food, fashion, beauty and household goods.
Face recognition entry and NFT collection… bags filled with brand goods
What stood out most at the event was the participation method using FaceSign and the N Pay Wallet. If facial recognition technology was applied at the entry stage, inside the venue the structure managed event participation records by brand through QR codes and NFTs.
At several brand booths, visitors received products or goods by scanning QR codes and turning on settings such as receiving brand store notifications. In the process, an NFT for the relevant brand was issued through the N Pay Wallet. At one booth, scanning a QR code brought up a message on a smartphone screen saying, “Got a Stanley NFT.”
The NFTs issued this way remain as records of a user’s participation in the event. On site, they were used to manage duplicate participation in the same event. Naver has prepared a stamp tour to collect NFTs by booth and provides prizes such as N Pay points depending on participation.
Giveaways by brand also varied. After visiting several booths and taking part in events, the bag provided at entry became full of gifts. Being able to look at products and receive goods was an advantage, but as giveaways piled up the bag grew heavy, making it somewhat burdensome to move around.
To enter using FaceSign, users must register facial information in advance, and to collect NFTs they must separately sign up for the N Pay Wallet. Authentication and participation on site were simple, but advance preparation is required.
About 50 brands collaborating with Naver participated in the venue. On the third floor life and beauty area, booths were set up for brands including Medicube, 3CE and Kiehl’s, and the fourth floor was arranged to allow visitors to see products and events from food brands.
A collaborative space between Naver and Netflix, called the “NeNet Zone,” also drew attention. It featured an exhibition introducing the two companies’ collaboration activities over the past two years and photo zones using popular content. It also runs an event offering limited commemorative items to Netflix users on Naver Plus Membership.
On the second floor, Naver’s fashion service “Knockit” opened its first offline showroom. It was set up so visitors can try on new products from fashion brands sold online and move to online purchase pagesrching for and buying products into an offline experience
Shim Jun-yong (심준용), Naver brand experience leader, met reporters that day and explained, “We recruited mainly brand partners where membership members can feel the benefits the most.”
Taking online membership benefits offline… expanding to Naver Arena
The event is Naver’s attempt to broaden existing membership benefits such as point accumulation and content subscriptions into cultural areas such as performances and brand experiences. It is designed so membership members who used shopping and content services online can also experience benefits from Naver and affiliated brands offline.
According to Naver, Naver Plus Membership retention remains at 95 percent, and the share of shopping among membership users is more than three times higher than that of non-membership users. Based on this membership user base, Naver is expanding the scope of collaborations with brands.
Shim cited high interest among young users and the area’s concentration of various brands and pop-up stores as reasons for choosing Seongsu as the venue.
He said there was an intention to deliver benefits to membership users through various events, and Naver prepared the event to provide cultural experiences as well as point accumulation.
Nep Festa is set to run twice a day, with 500 people per session, for a total of 3,000 people over three days. In a pre-sale held earlier for Naver Plus Membership users who had paid 200,000 won or more with N Pay, 3,000 tickets sold out in 40 minutes.
Naver is also pushing to link up with local commercial districts outside the venue. Through the “Matdongyeojido” restaurant curation exhibition running in the Seongsu area until Nov. 11, it will provide points based on Naver reservations and review writing. At N Pay Connect merchants, additional accumulation benefits can also be received depending on conditions such as paying after making a reservation.
Such offline experiences are expected to expand to performance venues. Naver signed a three-year arena naming-rights agreement and strategic partnership with Inspire Resort on Oct. 26. As a result, Inspire Arena’s official name will change to “Naver Arena at Inspire” in December.
The two sides plan to apply various technologies to the venue, including an entry system using FaceSign and NFTs based on the N Pay Wallet and augmented reality (AR) wayfinding. The women’s tennis tournament “Naver × Hyundai Card The Six,” held from Dec. 25 to 27, will be the first event after the new name is applied.
Lee Jae-hoo (이재후), head of Naver’s <a href="https://comicvibe.com/starz-entertainment-corp-strz-q3-2026-earnings-call-highlights-strongest-quarter-of-the-year/” title=”Starz Entertainment Corp (STRZ) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Highlights: Strongest Quarter of the Year …”>entertainment division, met reporters that day and explained the background to using FaceSign and NFTs in venue operations. The aim is to reduce difficulties in managing entry that could occur at large-scale performances and to raise the safety and convenience of authentication procedures.
He said, “We will keep experimenting with what kind of experience we can create by combining FaceSign and NFTs well,” adding, “We are also trying to check those parts at this event.”
He added, regarding plans to use Naver Arena, “Based on these experiences, we plan to create new experiences such as a smart arena.”
Whether Nep Festa will be held in other regions has not yet been decided. Shim said there were no other venues specifically decided and that it was preparing various events using Naver Arena in the future.
This Nep Festa is Naver’s attempt to expand offline touchpoints between membership users it secured online and brands. It envisions widening touchpoints with membership users by expanding face-recognition entry, NFT-based participation management and brand experiences implemented at the event to performance venues and local commercial districts.
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Lee Ho-junglhj@d-today.co.kr
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