During Casual Connect Asia 2015, Saiyai Sakawee shared her tips for getting the most out of partnering with a game accelerator. “I believe that Thailand is ready,” Saiyai says, pointing out recent growth in smartphone ownership and mobile payment options in the area.
Saiyai Sakawee is not a gamer. So it might seem odd at first glance that she’s t
he chief marketing officer of MSeed, Thailand’s first game accelerator and game publisher. However, it gives MSeed a unique edge in the gaming industry. “The first task that was assigned to me (at MSeed) was to make people like me — those who are not active gamers — play our games.”
Since MSeed seeks to acquire first-time gamers, Saiyai is the perfect person to be in charge of marketing — and not only is she able to market games to non-gamers, she’s also useful when advising MSeed’s portfolio teams. “As a non-gamer, I can critique games differently, since it takes different things to get us to play games.”
While Saiyai’s foray into gaming is new, she has been in the tech sector for years. She has served as a consultant for startups, governments and corporations — including Fortune 100 companies — and has written for Tech In Asia and Telecom Journal Thailand. All her time in the tech sector has enabled her to innately understand the people, trends and industry in general.
Seeding Growth
Saiyai has found her work at MSeed, and the mobile gaming industry as a whole, an interesting and challenging experience from day one. As CMO, her responsibility is to grow the company. She handles business development, public relations, marketing, branding and user acquisition.
She notes that while the industry is in its infancy in Thailand, it’s growing quickly. “As pioneers of our industry, we must foster the entire industry and not only our own businesses. I would say the expanded duty is one of the most enjoyable aspects of this job. I get to meet new people with new ideas all the time. It’s eye opening!”
There are some challenges that come with the job though. Chief among them is creating understanding between the development and marketing teams. In order to minimize problems she has an open communication policy with her teams. “Regardless of whether we come up with global marketing campaigns or simple local tracking, we have to recognize the limitations of our developer team, which is a concern many marketers never take into account … On the other hand, sometimes developers have an awesome idea — knowing the game better than anyone — but communication is not their strength. I do my best to foster open communication and ask everyone to speak up.”
She also seeks mentorship from gaming veterans, finding that talking to those with more experience allows her to learn from practical experience and help her solve problems. She recalls once when she was invited to speak at Casa Asia in Barcelona: “Once I was there, it was clear that even though I was the one who spoke on stage, I learned far more from them.” She calls the opportunity “an honor” and one of the highlights of her career.
One of the things she’s learned at MSeed is that social media is one of the most effective forms of marketing. The company dedicates most of their budget to social channels and spends a good deal of time creating quality social content. While they do rely on social ads she has found that organic growth and virality makes the most impact.
Looking for Partners
So what do Saiyai and MSeed look for when selecting games to market? Above anything is that they are fun and addicting. “We have to love the game and want to play the game first before we could convince everyone else to play it,” Saiyai says.
That includes her non-gamer self, of course. “Obviously, being in the industry, it’s impossible to not play any game at all,” she says. “I’ve started downloading a few games on my phone now and I play on the subway on the way home. I used to play Pirate King. I liked the feeling of destroying my friends’ islands!”
She also has advice for developers seeking a publisher, whether it is MSeed or someone else: Make sure the publisher has market know-how and check their record of successful game launches.
She notes that a good publisher can be a great benefit to developers. It reduces the risk of overextending a developer’s abilities and resources, and a publisher may have more knowledge to offer regarding specific markets. “Each country has their own unique culture. It’s important to keep that in mind when trying to acquire an audience. Local publishers could help with that. In addition, publishers could help share some, if not all, of the marketing and customer service work. Developers can instead spend time doing what they are good at: producing awesome games!”
Future Firsts
Saiyai sees a time in the near future when mobile games may possess the quality of PS3 games. She believes that graphics and game production will become increasingly competitive in the mobile space. However, she says, this constant innovation could see smaller developers overshadowed by big studios who have more assets to produce a AAA game.
As for her own future and the future of MSeed, she has one specific goal in mind: “I want to use this opportunity (as CMO of MSeed) to be the first to successfully market a Thai-made game to the world.”
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