Home Insider Interview with Adeana Greenlee Country Manager of iflix Myanmar

Interview with Adeana Greenlee Country Manager of iflix Myanmar

Name : Adeana Greenlee

Position : Country Manager of iflix Myanmar

Career Background Right out of university I ventured into television news. I worked writing and editing for an NBC affiliate in Las Vegas, Nevada, but I fast realized television news was not for me. Soon after, by chance, I landed a marketing job at a small hotel and casino which kicks started my 10-year journey doing marketing and public relations for hotels, casinos, restaurants and shows.

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MI: When did you first visit Myanmar and what was your impression back then?

I moved to Myanmar with my family in late 2012. For me, it was adventure, and I was really excited to go to new place. I was immediately so impressed and fell in love with Myanmar.

What do you think of Myanmar now?

I still think Myanmar is one of the most amazing countries I’ve ever been to. November will mark my family’s fifth year living here. Each day I learn something new and I think it is so wonderful, although very different.

How did you end up as Country Manager of iflix Myanmar?

I first moved to Yangon as a trailing spouse. As soon as I was on ground I began looking for work and ended up building the public relations arm of Today Ogilvy. Through of friend, I was contacted by iflix asking if I was interested in the Myanmar Country Manager role. As found out more information about iflix and its vision to redefine how people consume entertainment in frontier markets, I became more excited about the opportunity. Plus, iflix has an amazing work culture because the company really lives its values of being simple, curious, real, brave, and playful. It was not only a great career move to launch a product like iflix, but also a fantastic product for the Myanmar consumer.

What are your primary responsibilities?

I take all the awesome things iflix has to offer and make sure it works for Myanmar. iflix is all about localization and tailoring the product offering to the customer. We’ve developed and continue to evolve our offering to local preferences. In Myanmar, we focus on content – international, regional and local – relevant to our customers. From movies like From Bangkok to Mandalay and Angel of Eden to television shows the likes of Yadanarbon and Charm, we provide a platform for local films and TV shows, while providing audiences content they love. We also know Myanmar people are fans of Korean and Thai content and we are constantly adding to our lineup of popular regional programming. A key differentiator for iflix is the availability of Myanmar subtitles. We have a team of localization experts who are working to subtitle our entire catalogue of international and regional content. While iflix is an international company, we make our product as local as possible. This extends to alternative payments to purchase iflix subscriptions such as carrier billing and in-store cash payments. My job as country manager is to ensure all aspects of the business come together to make a product that is ideal for Myanmar.

Please explain to our readers about Iflix?

iflix is a streaming video on demand ( S V o D ) c o m p a n y . W e b e l i e v e everyone should have access to legal entertainment, without limitations. Billions of dollars each year are spent on pirated content. While there is a lot of other streaming video 0n demand companies, for most, you need to have credit card and you need to have Wi-Fi. iflix was developed specifically for emerging markets like Myanmar, Cambodia and Thailand where people have gone from no phone to smart phone within a couple of years. So the product itself, like I mentioned before, is localized. We also have a compression technology which makes it efficient and economical for people to view over mobile. We have features like download and watch offline. For example, someone who does not want to use too much data or is price sensitive can download when he or she has access to Wi-Fi and can watch at a later time. So, the way we see it, iflix is revolutionizing entertainment industry in the emerging markets by providing people access to amazing content at an affordable price. Every market we are in, iflix is priced at the approximate cost of one or two pirated DVDs, thus the 3,00o Kyat price point in Myanmar.

Why did Iflix decide to enter into Myanmar?

As with most companies, iflix identified an opportunity. Over the past three or so years people have gone from no phone to smart phone, which is a perfect match for our SVoD service, which is optimized to stream over mobile data. In addition, people in Myanmar did not have access, at least legal access, to this type of entertainment. The time is also ripe for the Myanmar film and television industry which is growing in creativity and scale.

What new service features can your customers expect from you in the future?

We recently updated iflix to what we call iflix 2.o and Channels which offers significantly deeper personalized experiences and intuitive ways of discovering new content, with additional improvements to speed and performance. Channels combines the best of traditional pay television with benefits of on-demand services, showcasing many of the world’s best and most exciting entertainment studios and brands along with users’ favourite content genres in a dynamic channel interface. An all new follow function enables our users to follow playlists curated by many of their favourite People – popular influencers and celebrities, to discover new shows while voyeuristically keeping up with what their People have liked, watched or are currently watching. Last, but not least, Disney titles are now available in Myanmar. This means our customers also have access to Pixar, Marvel and ABC, all of which fall under the Disney umbrella.

What is the difference between working in Myanmar and other countries?

For me, it is much more interesting working in Myanmar than USA. Myanmar has its own unique challenges and SVoD is something new to Myanmar. We do localizing very differently. It is quite challenging but figure out ways is really fun. Generally speaking, my colleagues, past and present, are very curious and willing to learn new things. Working with Myanmar people, helping to foster and grow various industries and capacity build within those sectors, has been one of the most rewarding things I have done.

Do you take feedback about your service from your users? If yes, how do you process it?

We take feedback very seriously. Some things we can 100 percent control and some things we can’t. We have a team of 10 fun and fantastic CEOs (Customer Engage Officers). Our CEOs address all feedback and customer service questions via Facebook and email. We have a very fast response turn around and always aim to engage with our customers in a playful, yet thorough manner.

From a business standpoint, what do you feel are the biggest challenges facing you and your team in next 1-3 years?

I think our biggest challenge is changing mindset. Our main competitor is piracy. Piracy is not a moral issue. People in countries like Myanmar simply have not had an affordable and accessible alternative to pirated content. Educating the Myanmar consumer, letting them know they can have a higher quality product while having unlimited access to the best shows and movies, is our challenge and focus. There are also benefits to the local film and television industry, job creation, by fostering a community willing to pay for content.

What advice would you give to someone who is looking to invest in Myanmar?

There no short-term. You can’t come in and have a quick win or operate remotely. You really need to understand the reality situation and operational challenges and opportunities the country presents. You need to invest your time personally and professionally to be successful.

How are you enjoying your days in Myanmar?

My husband and I have two children. Most of our free time is spent on activities the entire family can enjoy. Depending on the weather we may take the kids on the circle train, to a park, to a pool or go running to explore the city. Last weekend we went surfing and swimming at Ngwe Saung. We try to do different things throughout city and beyond to experience in the country and its offerings. We’ve done a lot of traveling including to Putar-O, Hpa-an, Ngapali and more. No matter where you go in Myanmar, even a short distance outside Yangon, the country looks and feels vastly different. I am fortunate and grateful to have this opportunity with my family, making our home in Myanmar. We strive to make the best out of the time we have here and experience as much as possible.

 

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