Although they are not a new phenomenon, those enjoyed by millions of viewers in the UK, such as The X Factor, which launched in 2004, have only been around for a few years.
However in Thailand, the country’s favourite and most famous competition dates all the way back to 1983. What was initially called the “Thailand Singing Contest” is now “
KPN Award”, yet the family name behind the initiative remains the same: the Narongdejs.
Khunying Phornthip Narongdej is a businesswoman who initially rose to prominence as CEO of Siam Motors Group, the first company to import Japanese cars and heavy machinery. Together with her husband, Dr Kasem Narongdej, she formed KPN Group, which today is a conglomerate with holdings in investments, property and music and education.
The Music & Education Group, which stemmed from Khunying Phornthip’s love of music, develops educational software not only for the KPN Music Academy, but also for government schools. In addition, the business is doing wonders at promoting Thailand’s image in a positive way abroad.
“We have over 150,000 students, being the fastest growing music academy in the country,” says group Chairman Kris Narongdej of the KPN Music Academy, established in 1966. “Whether you promote Thailand through music or through sports, this enhances our image and hopefully in a few years we can become like South Korea, which has been able to promote their entertainers and export their culture.”
So popular is KPN’s singing contest that in 1990 King Bhumibol Adulyadej began bestowing a King’s Cup to the winner. Henceforth, the song contest has also been called “The King’s Trophy”.
“It is a motive of pride and joy to have been granted this trophy by His Majesty,” says Mr Narongdej, whose brother, Korn Narongdej, manages the KPN Award and also serves as Chief Marketing Officer of KPN Group.
In fact, the Narongdej name comes up quite frequently in the list of KPN Group’s management as the conglomerate remains a true family-run business. And for Kris, this has been vital in allowing for better flexibility.
“Being a family-run company means that we are able to make decisions quite swiftly. Also, whatever we do is an extension of my family, so we make sure that the family name is not tarnished. We are very careful with that,” he says.
KPN, which is an acronym for the names of the group’s founders, has built up a reputation for quality in everything it does.
“We have a good reputation in this country, so whatever sector we are in, we always try to project that reputation. Our brand has a heritage that backs it up,” says the Chairman.
In its property arm, this reputation certainly bore fruit; when it launched the brand The Capital in 2009, KPN was able to set historically high prices.
“We did all the research before we launched the product, and we knew what we had to do,” says Kris, whose other brother Nop Narongdej (group CEO), evaluated the extensive but underutilised land banks in KPN’s portfolio. “We were able to achieve an average of THB130,000 (£2,683) per square metre, which is the highest price in history in the New Petchburi Road area. They were selling at half price just 100 metres away.”
Of course, the high selling price was backed by top-notch amenities, such as a gym and a 40-metre swimming pool – a trend that the competition is keen to follow.
KPN Group is fairly new at the property business, having gradually diversified and shifted its focus from the automotive sector to other, more pertinent areas.
“Several years ago, we decided to focus on something where Thailand is competitive, and at that moment I believed that in the long term, Thailand would not be able to remain competitive in the manufacturing sector,” says Kris. “We managed to secure a good amount of money and we used that revenue to invest in the industries that we believed had a future.”
On moving into new business areas, he says, “We only concentrate on things that we love. I believe that if you do something you love, you put all your passion, energy and thinking into it, and you dream about it. You need passion in what you are doing.”
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