Given the flux that now surrounds Yahoo, Ivy Wong’s decision to bring a close to eight years at the online giant late last year may look far-sighted. At the time, however, it was greeted with some surprise.
After all Wong - one of Yahoo’s bona fide sales stars in Asia - had decided to leave for TVB.com, not so much a website but an idea.
And yet, speaking to Wong, it is easy to understand her attraction to starting from scratch all over again. Wong was Yahoo Hong Kong’s first employee back in 1998, before it had even launched. The next eight years saw her build the portal into the dominant force it is today, accounting for over 50 per cent of the city’s online market. In 2006, she made the decision to leave Yahoo Hong Kong for a regional role that involved setting up a new team, again from nothing.
“I prefer setting up a new business and really like to achieve something from nothing,” admits Wong. “Once that business has been established and stable, I then want to move on and try something new. I like to do things that other people think won’t work.”
Wong’s comment is revealing. “Stable” is the euphemism she uses to describe the Yahoo experience in 2007, and it probably reflects a certain level of ennui. And yet, it is hard to overlook the massive cultural disparity between the free-spirited American culture of Yahoo on one hand, and the bureaucratic labyrinth that TVB sometimes resembles.“TVB is like a 40-year-old adult, but adult and kids cultures are very different, which I can understand but that doesn’t mean I will accept it,” she points out. “I am still learning the culture of TVB - but I won’t necessarily accept the culture here.”
Wong’s rebellious streak could come in handy. TVB’s 40-year history and almost complete market dominance of terrestrial television makes it an institution in Hong Kong. Its success, furthermore, has been driven in large part by its ability to churn out highly-popular Cantonese dramas. One of Wong’s key tasks is to monetise this content online, which, given the massive numbers of Cantonese speakers worldwide, seems like an eminently sensible idea. But she is aware that she will have her work cut out at an organisation that remains resistant to change.
“TVB has its own established culture, and it has sometimes blinded them,” explains Wong. “As they have been so successful already, there is no strong desire for them to do something really creative. They don’t need to get out of the box, as they are already so successful where they are.”
Wong adds that to complete her “mission” she will need to keep some distance from TVB’s culture. “If I just become immersed then I would lose my new thinking and innovative ideas,” she says. “I want to make changes. But when I come here, I see huge opportunity - there is so much I can do.”
That much is certainly true. At Yahoo, Wong was able to convince clients of the merits of marketing online, despite working with adspend levels that would make a grown media buyer blush. But she points out that her task at TVB will be considerably different. “After several years of preaching the new media concept, I now have to explain how to integrate the power of TV with the power of the internet,” says Wong. “I really want to help advertisers to create a total marketing solution by using TV to create noise and brand awareness, and combining the power of the internet to drive sales and loyalty.”
TVB’s online presence, being completely honest, has had a somewhat chequered past. At its dotcom era peak, the site possessed a workforce of 200 people, a number which has scaled back significantly in recent years. At present the website is little different to your average corporate offering, and quite far removed from being the kind of Cantonese Youtube that it appears to aspire to.
“We have to convince the audience that TVB.com is no longer a corporate website but a community for them, where audiences come for everything related to TV,” admits Wong, adding that rebuilt website, complete with a new revenue model will launch in April this year. “What I really want to do is to set up a channel where we receive user generated content that we can then feature in TV programmes.”
For anyone familiar with TVB, this is pretty radical talk, particularly when Wong reveals that she is aiming to become a truly global medium. But Wong, clearly, is unconcerned about ruffling a few feathers. And her Yahoo background appears to have convinced her that the only way to succeed is to dream big.
“At Yahoo we had to be creative and innovative, which sometimes meant having guts and being brave,” she says. “We really have to make some dramatic decisions if we want to stay ahead of our competitors. TVB people are actually pretty surprised they hired me as COO here, because I am someone from the outside world.”
Ivy Wong’s CV
2007 Chief operating officer, TVB.com
2006 Senior director, global sales, Yahoo Asia
2002 Head of sales, Hong Kong and South China, Yahoo Hong Kong
1998 Account executive, Yahoo Hong Kong
1996 Account manager, Ossima International
