🥁 Personal branding:

What I learnt from Netflix’s Culinary Class Wars + MD promotion within a bank 

🎥 The show was ranked the No.1 non-English TV show.

I enjoyed watching the competition among all top chefs.

👩‍💻 So I did a bit of googling after the show.

🇰🇷 In South Korea, it has 33 Michelin Stars in 2024.

Then I remember walking to my office every day in Landmark. 

Landmark (the office and shopping mall building alone) has 16 Michelin Stars - already half of South Korea.

🇭🇰 Hong Kong had 92 Michelin Stars in 2023 in such a small city.

🇸🇬 Singapore has around 64 Michelin Stars. 

Then I began to question:

Why didn’t Netflix do Culinary Class in Hong Kong/Singapore or invite HK/SG chefs instead?

There is one thing that came across my mind:

💡 Personal branding + Marketing 

South Korea is really strong in the entertainment industry. 

We see many great movies and music productions.

Their skills are no doubt one of the best in the world. 

👨‍🍳 But it does not necessarily have more talented chefs than HK + SG. 

I believe it is all about marketing and branding.

Korea is better than other countries in Asia to brand themselves in different industries.

👩‍🍳 They might not have as many great chefs compared to Hong Kong and Singapore but the fact that they are good at marketing brings them more opportunities to the world. 

📮 This reminds me of my candidate reaching out to me for promotion to MD within a bank.

There were 10 nominated candidates in Asia for MD promotion.

🌏 She was passed over for the MD promotions in the past 2 years.

☂ Is she technically the strongest? 

YES - if not definitely above average

☂ Is her visibility the highest among the 10 candidates? 

Unfortunately no. She rarely markets herself as she believes her work quality speaks for itself. 

This frustrates me as we know the game does not work this way.

🔥 Visibility and Branding are also important on top of quality. 

Unless you already made it to the top. 

Unless you are already Hermes - You don’t need marketing.

Unless you are already Jeff Bezzo - You don’t need to promote yourself. 

People flock to you instead without marketing. 

⭐ In the beginning stage, technical skills are important to get to a certain level.

🌜 After you reach middle management, you need visibility to go beyond.

🌞 And I hope to see more and more talents from HK and Singapore can gain more fame internationally (no matter what industry you are from)

What do you think?

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