PRIVY Featured Member: Emily Cho

Privy's Seoul Ambassador Stream Lee interviews Korean Air's Emily Cho

Emily Cho was introduced to me as the lady who “makes things happen”, so it came to me as a surprise that the brains behind the stunning $19 million ad campaign in 2007 for Korean Air, came from such an ingénue. But don’t let age fool you. Ms. Cho who masterminded the airlines largest ever global advertising coo continues to break down stereotypes as she heads the Integrated Marketing team for Korean Air with some of the most innovative marketing campaigns found in Korea.

Stream: Emily thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to speak to Privy’s exclusive members. First could you tell us what your official title is, what your job entails and where you get the inspiration for some of your ad campaigns?

Emily Cho: My official title is General Manager of Korean Air’s IMC Team, part of the Corporate Communication Department. We oversee the domestic (Korea) and global advertising of Korean Air, and coordinate co-marketing projects with other brands.

Our ad campaigns in Korea are focused on creating a link between Koreans and destinations all around the world. By telling a story about the destination, our ads have helped many Koreans venture out and travel all around the world.

Korean Air’s global campaign is based on creating a brand image for our airline. Asian airlines are traditionally known for great service and beautiful flight attendants. We wanted to break the Asian image and be positioned as a global premium airline. In other words, ‘sexy,’ not ‘Asian.’ So the concept was to seem like a fashion ad, and surprise the viewer at the end with our logo.


S: Korean Air claims to have one of the largest global networks in the airline industry. Many of our Privy members spend significant amounts of time, globe trotting from one business meeting to another and I’m sure they would like to know where do you see the future of air travel going? What changes can people be expectant of in the years to come?

EC:I think any globetrotter already knows the strengths of taking advantage of airline alliances, for example SkyTeam or Star Alliance, and One World. I think the best service airlines can offer to their customers is seamless connections from departure to arrival, and the alliances make it possible.


S: You were born in Hawaii, schooled in Korea and the US, where do you consider home? And just how often does your life and career make it necessary to travel. And speaking of work and life, does being such a young professional woman, bring up any issues in the line of work you do?

EC: Definitely Seoul is my ‘hometown’ as I lived here for all of my life minus the 4 years in LA for college. And the 4 years in LA makes it also very special to me. Both Seoul and LA are places that I let out a sigh of relief when I step out of the plane, like entering a comfort zone. I go to LA for business trips at least 3 times a year, and I’m always glad to be back.

I usually travel about 6 times a year for business trips, and mainly Paris or LA. Recently, I was lucky to include London and New York as well onto the list of frequent destinations. But the most exciting business trip is going along with the advertising team that shoots our ad. I got to travel to Brazil, South Africa and Australia for that. It’s great because you get to see and go places that tourists don’t typically go.


S: As you know Privy is a very peer advice oriented community, so please tell us where your favorite city to travel to in Asia is and why? And what are some of the best restaurants and nightlife you would recommend to people who were coming to Seoul?

EC: My favorite place in Asia is Tokyo. I love Japanese culture because it’s similar to Korea in values, but very different at the same time. Tokyo is very ‘alive’, and I love the way the past mixes so well with the modern to create a beautiful city.

Restaurants that I would recommend in Seoul? It depends on what type of food you want, since Seoul has a wide offering in different types of cuisine. But my friends and I usually hang out at Itaewon for good food and diversity. For Korean food, Myongdong is a great place, and for dessert, we go to Garosu-gil in Kangnam. Nightlife? I’m the wrong person to ask~ my idea of a nightlife is hanging out at a café with my friends! But Hongdae is an ideal place for a nightlife.


S: What are some of the things that Korean Air sponsors and cares about and or is affiliated with?

EC: Korean Air has shown its commitment to culture by sponsoring the Louvre, the British Museum, and the Hermitage Museum over the past two years. We also have sponsored endless number of exhibitions to come to Korea, as well as sending Korean artists out to the world.

For the environment, Korean Air has planted trees in Mongolia since 2004 to help prevent desertification of the area, and have expanded it to China as well. Korean Air also is a partner of Million Trees LA (MTLA), which is a group committed to planting a million trees in LA.

Finally, in sports, Korean Air runs a sponsorship program called ‘Excellence Program’. Our affiliated athletes are Yuna Kim, the number 1 figure skater in the world, Tae-hwan Park, the first Korean gold-medalist swimmer, and 2 young professional golfers, Kevin Na and Ji-hye Shin. Korean Air sponsors them certain number of tickets per year so that they can travel around the world in the best condition for their games.


S: And finally just for fun, what are some of the things a busy professional like you does to unwind?

EC: My first step to ending a day is driving. The 40-minute drive home allows me to recap on what happened on that day and shake off some of the stress and worries of work. I also love to play games, such as Starcraft, or Diner Dash. I recently got hooked onto this game called Café World, which is a Facebook application game, and now I have my co-workers doing it as well!

During the weekends, I usually meet up with my friends, and they usually have a new restaurant or café picked out to go to. Finally, I have four Westies at home, so every weekend, I drive my dogs out to the park and I walk (they run) around for about 30 minutes. When the weather is warm, we stay out longer because I usually bring a book. So I sit on the bench reading, while the 4 of them run around.

PRIVY Featured Member: Carl Choi

Say hello to Carl Choi, Privy member and a man who is helping to change the face of Asian and Asian American media/entertainment globally. He is the co-founder and CEO of Plan C Group, a network of companies that dubs itself "the Asian Lifestyle Company" and includes businesses in the areas of Nightlife & Events, Marketing Services, Entertainment Brand Management and Original Content Development & Production. Carl manages some of the biggest names in Asian entertainment, including Jin the MC, Daniel Wu, Van Ness Wu, and Far East Movement and is without peer in the scope of his vision for the next generation of Asian entertainers. That vision has led to immensely successful Far East Movement inking a record deal with Cherytree/Interscope Records (who represents stars such as Lady Gaga), a milestone for both Carl and Far East Movement that cements their place among the big players in entertainment. Needless to say, we were chomping at the bit to learn more about Carl's journey and to hear his thoughts about the future of Asian entertainment.

1. What do you like about Privy or the promise Privy offers?

It reminds me of a very early-stage asw but with a very global audience. And I think the exclusivity that it offers gives it more of a interesting appeal to those who are ahead of the trends these days because with business, entertainment, and anything you get into, it’s becoming more of a global market. With that said, I think people are looking for key players in any game to be able to give them access to the East and West, and I think Privy offers that.


2. Can you tell us a bit about Plan C Group and how it’s evolved into what it is today?

We are an umbrella on the creative and infrastructure level for a collective of likeminded companies. Like when I described the whole East-West/global approach, the idea and how we started this company has always been based on global perspective. We manage talent, we produce events, we offer marketing services through our different entities, as well as produce original content. And everything we do is always based on “okay, will the Indians like it as much as the blacks or the whites?” We want to nurture the underdog market, and we just happened to grow up in the Asian community. We see a lot of things we love about it, and we just want to share it with the world. And that’s pretty much the concept of what Plan C Group is.

About 13 years ago, we started out promoting parties. I had good friends, good people, and I thought the easiest way to get everyone together was to create a good time. From that, we recognized the power of influence when it came to events, and we quickly grew to about 13 cities worldwide. I also was able to meet Jin during the time when he won BET 106 and Park, and I started to tour all over the world with him and recognize the kind of influence he had on the world. As much as he was just an Asian kid, the people who followed him all over the world were of all colors. And so that’s kind of what opened up my mind to this whole talent management arena as well. And with events, talent, and even content—some of the films I have produced in the past—I realized that they have the ability to change lives.

But we realized that one of the major setbacks of the Asian community was it just not very thoroughly recognized by the Fortune 500. And so we launched the Plan C Agency to service Fortune 500 company brands, to introduce them to this Asian American market now, but what in the long run will be the Asian global market. So we currently service and are agency on record for Verizon wireless, Gilead Pharmaceuticals, and Bacardi Grey Goose and work very closely with Universal and Lionsgate for a lot of the films that have Asian content in them.

And how’s it evolved to what it is today? Honestly, it’s just driven by passion, faith, and integrity. Those are the three things we stand closely by. Even though we work in a very dark industry, we are very big on making sure we stick to our guns when it comes to how we operate. And really stick to having moral values and managing content and artists that value that as well. Of course, we’re always going to have to be walking on gray lines with entertainment, but at the end of the day, we know that our core mission is really just to make the world a better place and create positive role models for the future generations.


3. Did you set out with the intention to make a way for Asian Americans in the US media, or did that just start happening?

Yeah, it was very intentional actually. I grew up in Hong Kong, and when I came to America…it was interesting because one thing I always share with people was I didn’t even know I was Asian until I got here. Because when I was in Hong Kong I was just another kid. But when I came to America I suddenly became this Asian kid. So it was kind of confusing, when you grow up in that way, and when you’re so observant of people and behaviors, you kind of realize that there is a difference in how you’re being treated and people’s perception of things.

But then you realize, wait a minute, why do I think I’m such a cool Asian kid, when everyone thinks I’m this nerdy guy. And what I realized was it because of the media. I grew up watching the, you know, Stephen Chows and Chow Yun Fats, the gangster guys and funny guys who get all the chicks. I went from that to coming to America and being put into the same circles as the guys who only stay in the library and can’t spit game worth anything. And so I was just super confused.

But I just really believed in the potential of the Asian face. So I set out to educate people about why I think the Asian males are the guys to be and I think will be the global superstars. It only makes sense if you look at the numbers, where a third of the world has an Asian face. So why wouldn’t the future influencers of the world—the future Michael Jackson or the future Britney Spears—be Asian? It doesn’t make any sense. Especially as it’s becoming a global market.


4. Now, what about "1040 Project?" What’s that all about and how was producing your second documentary ("No Sleep ‘Til Shanghai" being the first)?

That was interesting because when I met Jaeson Ma about two years ago was kind of when I came back to Christ as well. But he had a very compelling story; we related on a lot of levels, and I decided to join him for about a year running around Asia doing his ministry while I was handling my business out there. One thing I didn’t see when I was growing up in Asia was the amount of Christians that was out there and the momentum that was building. He was speaking to arenas of people, while when I was growing up I was just in these little house churches. And so it was amazing to me that the momentum was there.

And he was telling me about China; I started hearing all these stories, and after traveling around China, Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, I was like wow, this is a story that needs to be told. We just thought it was a story that the western world needs to see. Because I think most people in America, when they think about Asians, they always think oh yeah, Asians are Christians? Nah, they’re Buddhists, aren’t they? And so I think it’s a surprise to most people who haven’t been exposed to the Asian culture—the movement of God that’s happening in Asia right now. It’s amazing!


5. Speaking of Asia…What has it been like to manage Jin, Van Ness, and Daniel? Have you found the Asian market to be very different from the American market?

Well, I’ve never seen it as an Asian or American market. Like I said, our company is structured to be a global market. With Jin, I’ve always seen him working in Hong Kong eventually; I mean it was a matter of time. With Van Ness and Daniel, I see them becoming just as big here as they are in China and Taiwan. So I believe in them, and they all share the same passion, integrity, and faith in what they do, in their work.

Managing them is different than what people probably think. I’m not a very Nazi-type manager. I’m very collaborative; I treat them like my business partners. We see eye to eye, and I think that’s why they work with me. I’m not here to control their lives; I’m here to let them know what I recommend from what I see from a very objective level or from my expertise, and I also tell them what I think might or might not work. But at the end of the day, the decision is on them, and that’s how I like to manage.


6. Any thoughts about the future of Asian entertainment and how that may affect the US?

Yes, I think the Asian face will be the global face of the future. The US I think will still be the forefront. It will be a combination of the Asian face with US training. Because after travelling the world, I have looked for many different places to kind of settle myself. But I realized for what I do and what I want to do for the future, America will always be ahead—at least for my lifetime—creatively. Because it has the perfect environment conducive to what’s needed to develop solid creative product. It’s diverse enough, and I think it’s open enough for people to expand their minds to a level that I think the rest of the world’s going to take a long time to be able to live up to.


7. With so much on your plate, how do you keep two feet on the ground?

You know what, I feel like I have not been able to keep my feet on the ground for many years. Meaning I’ve been pretty much living half of my life on airplanes. But it’s a good balancing for me just to start valuing more of my private life and really just stay faithful and stay a servant, and not get too caught up on the whole thing and realize that at the end of the day it’s a mission. I think there are a lot of people that depend on us to draw the right picture for them to follow. Recognizing that kind of gives you extra pressure to want to be a good role model, you know?