The Fierce Video editorial team is proud to present its second annual Emerging Leaders Awards, recognizing the brightest young professionals rising up the ranks of the streaming TV industry. Throughout the months of May and June we’ll be featuring these profiles with each of our finalists. We will announce the winners during our StreamTV Show with an awards ceremony June 17 at 3:15 p.m. ET. Not yet registered for the StreamTV Show, running June 15-17? Be sure to register now and save your spot at this free virtual event!
Marina Vu/Crunchyroll:
Marina Vu is the director of lifecycle and product marketing at Crunchyroll, an anime streaming service with more than 100 million registered users and more than four million subscribers. In this role, she is responsible for the development and implementation of strategic marketing campaigns focused on the engagement and retention of Crunchyroll users, as well as the go-to-market strategy for new product launches, feature updates and major partnerships. Prior to Crunchyroll, Marina led and supported marketing teams for a variety of tech companies including JotForm, Zenfolio, UnitedLayer and IDG Enterprise.
What her colleagues are saying:
“Marina is a key leader at Crunchyroll. She is comfortable working at the light-speed pace that characterizes the streaming media world, and is open-minded about taking risks, even if it means potentially failing. Her calm demeanor and willingness to learn give her the flexibility to succeed in our highly competitive industry.” - Julia Renda, head of marketing at Crunchyroll
“Marina is someone you’d want on your team because she’s not only strategic in thinking but is also biased for action. She is critical in a fast paced and growing sector where we need our leaders to not be paralyzed by overthink.” - Jerry Fan, head of product growth, retention and monetization at Crunchyroll
Streaming Industry Q&A:
What streaming services do you subscribe to?
What streaming services do I not subscribe to? I think I’ve sampled almost every single one at some point, but my go-to’s these days are Crunchyroll (of course), Netflix and HBO Max.
Describe your biggest career highlight so far.
The opportunity to join the team at Crunchyroll has definitely been the highlight of my career. Crunchyroll is a platform and service I have long admired, but beyond that, it’s the place where I’ve been able to truly develop my passion for marketing and how to combine storytelling with data. This is also the place where I’ve gotten the opportunity to build an amazing team and watch them flourish every day.
What has been your biggest career learning experience?
The importance of failing. I started my career as someone who was terrified of failure, but eventually realized failing is a major driver of growth. It’s impossible to succeed each time, but each failure gets you closer to what ultimately will be a success. So I’ve learned to embrace failure and learning from each experience.
What's next for you in terms of new challenges in streaming TV?
Streaming is continuing to get more competitive with so many major players entering the market in the last few years. My biggest challenge is making sure we stay top of mind for our users by providing the best viewing experience, launching sought-after features and serving highly relevant marketing to the right people at the right time.