In Conversation with Karen Seah, Founder from The Refinery Studio and SUPERMODELME.TV

SUPERMODELME.tv is a groundbreaking online reality TV show where 10 models from across the Asian continent will compete to be Asia’s next hottest face on runways and magazines. While just being more than an online reality TV show, the company behind it, Refinery Media has also introduced a revolutionary technology from A-STAR called the Hyperspot technology which provide an instant gratification can be delivered right to the viewers’ fingertips. It is not a simple task to combine fashion, entertainment and technology to put forward a product. Karen Seah the founder of The Refinery Studio – company behind SUPERMODELME.TV, has taken her time to drop by to give us the story behind the competition, how she straddles across different areas of expertise to create this online reality TV show, and her thoughts on being an entrepreneur.

BL: Hi Karen, thank you for agreeing to an interview on SGE. First of all, tell us about your background and what are you working on before embarking on the SUPERMODELME.TV project?
Karen: I was in the nightlife entertainment sector for the past 10 years scattered around Asia Pacific, opening and operating clubs in Melbourne, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and then lastly Singapore. After moving back to Singapore 3 years ago and opening my restaurant/bar Mimolette, I decided to step back from F&B to focus on more creative projects. Even though for the past decade my career choice was the service sector, essentially in my college days, I was a trained Photographer and studied Film and Photography. So my first step was to open Refinery Studio which is essentially a hybrid creative agency that specialises in event management and branding services. And not long after, I quickly set up an affiliate production company called Refinery Media which embarked on the Supermodelme.tv project.

BL: What is the inspiration behind the SUPERMODELME.TV project?
Karen: The inspiration behind Supermodelme.tv is essentially 2 main factors. One, the fact that we felt that there was a growing need for more Asian presence in the Singapore modeling scene. Currently we are totally dominated by the Caucasian look in this country and this is unlike other Asian countries where they do pride themselves on pushing the Asian roots and growing a local pool of talents. When you have such a glaring need like this, you wonder why nobody is bothering to do anything about it.

The second factor is that this project essentially allows me to showcase all of the capabilities and strengths that Refinery Studio and Refinery Media are able to deliver. From organising the events and on-ground activities, co-ordinating and managing the PR, Sponsorship procurement, as well as the know-how of using the latest Web tools and social media platforms to market the show. We managed to put the whole thing together in under 5 months. When you build a start-up, essentially you want to create some noise, especially when you have a good idea.

BL: SUPERMODELME.TV combines technology, fashion and entertainment all in one go. What are the challenges in putting people and ideas from different areas into such an ambitious project?
Karen: If you have a good idea, you need to know how to sell it. The biggest challenge of all was convincing people to take a chance with this platform. But if the idea is essentially unique and interesting, then half the battle is won. Of course the greatest challenge was to pull in support from technology, fashion and entertainment but it was fortunate that having spent so many years running nightclubs, I made a lot of good contacts.

BL: In this web-based reality programme, it adopts the use of Hyperspot technology, can you tell us more about how this technology actually provide a different user experience to the audience who are watching the video?
Karen: This technology allows me to convert anything you see within a video into potential advertising real estate, from clothing, to accessories, to buildings to equipment to people. Everything can be clicked in order to obtain more information about the item being clicked. Clicking has now become a natural extension of our everyday life. As soon as we get on the computer, we are clicking. With this in mind, a user is clicking only because he/she is interested in what he/she is clicking on and this translates into data for advertisers. With the technology, it becomes a two-way communication between Advertiser and Viewer.

BL: How is the winner from the show selected? Is it totally by the audience or any other criteria?
Karen: The winner is selected by a combination of votes through the internet, sms voting and live voting on the finale day itself which is an event. You would even be able to vote via Twitter.

BL: Given that the whole show is viewed via the Internet, what are the marketing strategies used to attract people towards the reality show?
Karen: The marketing strategies was essentially to promote the show on already established social network platforms such as releasing viral videos and trailer videos onto YouTube and Facebook. We also have a fan and group page on Facebook. Essentially, we also engage traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, radio, tv and mobile advertising too. With a new show, you want to have as many bullets as you can access to.

BL: From your experience with the project and in the industry in general, what attracts media buyers and advertising agencies towards web-based reality TV?
Karen: The web is cost effective, it’s reach is quick and wide and in times like a recession, makes sense to allocate some advertising budget for web advertising. Data collected is also a lot more accurate.

BL: As it is a challenge to use social media for marketing the TV show out, has every tool from Facebook to Twitter worked out well? What are your thoughts in social media marketing as a whole for the industry?
Karen: Facebook and Youtube has worked out well to direct traffic to our site. The usage of Twitter has given the show a lot of exposure as magazines, newspapers and TV want to talk about the usage of Twitter. The phenomenon of social media marketing in Asia on the whole is still in early stages. So what we are attempting to do is already fairly experimental. The industry on the whole needs to understand social media before they can grasp it. More and more people are aware of social media but not many know its uses past having a Facebook account.

BL: What do you think are the three most important traits for an entrepreneur?
Karen: You need to have (i) people management skills, (ii) learn to take risks and (iii) keep yourself current.

BL: Karen, we wish you and your team from Refinery Studios good luck with the show.

Editor’s Note: We also put a trailer of SUPERMODELME.TV on here in SGE for you to view. Drop by their website to watch the whole series online.

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