Episode 15: Curiosity - The Name of the Game for Creating Winning Media Stories
How did a group of communication students transform - from what started as a school project - into a successful thriving media group across Southeast Asia, garnering accolades for their featured stories of Singapore... and being featured on the Forbes 30 under 30 list?
I speak with Kai Yuan Ng, co-founder of Our Grandfather Story, a successful media brand under the Unfold Asia group. “OGS", as it is commonly known, delivers a genuine story-telling approach to the raw, controversial and overlooked topics. With close to 80 million views and over 800 videos release so far, this team of young founders have garnered real fans around the region and established themselves as innovative disruptors to the media industry.
From talking about how it is living as a transgender person, to personal stories on surviving suicide, and interviewing someone who learnt how to forgive the driver who killed her sons, their stories are more than just social media interest. They lift the veil on the raw emotions of what happens in life, delivered in a very real and authentic manner from the heartfelt interviews that their producers dig into.
And there is no way they can do that without leaning into their deep curiosity about people and the lives they lead. Respectfully, thoughtfully.
I enjoyed my conversation with Kai Yuan immensely. Not just because of the impressive stories he and the team produced, but also his real down-to-earth manner in sharing the journey behind his business growth, his motivations and vision for the media group. Now with a team of 50, he has also moved on from founder to business leader and shares his thoughts in the space.
Key insights:
How did Our Grandfather Story get started?
Tackling the difficult stories and topics
What are the stories that appeal and trend?
Can the media and news be truly objective?
The film or documentary that he most wants to do
His most rebel-like philosophy
Learn more about Kai Yuan Ng here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/ngkaiyuan/
Watch the featured stories in Our Grandfather Story here: https://www.youtube.com/c/OurGrandfatherStory
Unfold Asia as a media group:
https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/unfold-asia
https://www.unfoldasia.com/home