In this series, we meet people from Kakao Entertainment, affectionately known internally as our Krew. Together, we navigate uncharted waters and collaborate to build an open and inclusive environment where Krew members can nurture individual capabilities and grow in concert with the company. 

Bringing awesome K-content to the world is not easy. How to pick just the right story? How to frame it? What’s going to work? Every country is unique, and each reader has likes and preferences. Our global content managers are masters at reading the room, as they say, and they’re responsible for some big behind-the-scenes decisions, from picking new Kakao Entertainment content, to making sure all the platform ops are running smooth.  

We recently caught up with three of our pioneers to find out more about what they do. Dina handles Taiwan and Indonesia. Kylie is in charge of Kakao Webtoon Thai and our Indonesian platform content. And Olive works on our North America platform. Here’s a condensed version of the interview. 

Q. How do you choose content for global readers? 

Olive  

People always ask that first. The main factor is reading the emotions of local readers. For North America on our Radish platform, we try to understand what our readers want. If we know what gets them moving, we can serve up great content. Sounds easy, right? It’s not!

Dina 

So true. There are so many differences across our platforms. In Thailand, for example, people are really drawn into the artwork, whereas readers in Taiwan are thinking deeply about the storyline. 

Q. Why do you think K-content is so appealing to readers around the world, especially when there are so many differences?

Dina 

It’s a great question. K-content, especially K-webtoons, has really bumped up expectations for quality. The drawing. The writing. The story. It all has to be well crafted, and we approach readers by reaching deep to understand their needs and reflecting that in quality content. It’s strategic, but also sensitive.

Kylie 

Right, content has to captivate, so while we start by understanding local cultures, we also have to look closely at the data to gauge their response to the content. Then we can adjust. Listening is everything.

Q. What about the Global Content team itself? What makes YOU tick?

Olive 

I really love the scope. It’s a globe full of countries and readers. And from market to market, we try to make everything systematic, creating professional management processes to fill the platform with cool content. Always listening to readers and looking ahead so we know what might work for future content. That’s going to help Kakao Entertainment keep growing globally.

Dina  

And we’ve really bonded around that goal. It’s our team’s biggest source of strength. There are so many variables in this business, so we have open communications, both internally and externally with our partners in the content producer (CP) community. But the real secret might be that we’re all just super into the content! 

Kylie 

Exactly, empathy is everything and because we’re pioneering this business globally, we have the chance to grow together, both personally and professionally. We have differences of opinion, of course, but we share our ideas and insights respectfully. It’s a great atmosphere, and personally I’m always excited for our twice-a-week team meetings.  

Q. What’s your advice to aspiring content managers? What does it take to make it in this business, pioneering new markets and introducing K-content overseas? 

Dina  

Flexibility is so important. Like Kylie said, opinions often differ, and we have to come together with respect and cooperation. 

Kylie 

And even though we mostly communicate in Korean in the office, you have to remember that this business is global. So, English is key, and a third local language would be helpful, too. At the end of the day, what matters most is how much you love the content!

Olive 

100% agree. You gotta love the content.

 
Q.  What’s the most rewarding thing in your job?

Dina 

I love seeing our content enjoyed by people around the world on our Kakao Webtoon platforms. That’s so rewarding. 

Kylie 

And when a story really takes off and the Intellectual Property (IP) gets picked up for adaptation to TV or the big screen, well that adds a new dimension. Because then we get to work with people from so many agencies to transform the webtoon. It gets exciting and I take a lot of pride in that. 

Olive 

Our Global Content team continues to grow, and that’s exciting too. It’s a great place to work because you can take the initiative in so many ways.