Ben King Appointed Country Head for Google Thailand

Over the past four years at Google, he has worked with customers across the region — from Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to Indonesia and Singapore, including a year in Thailand leading sales.

The new country manager has talked about his points of views on how he felt about move to Thailand and what he’s looking forward to the most as following:

You have experience working all around the region. What stands out about Thailand?

The country’s digital ecosystem is bursting at the seams. About half the country is online, and with more Thais than ever using the Internet in their daily lives, many businesses are turning to digital in order to grow and scale. This makes Thailand a very exciting place to be and I’m looking forward to working with the team to better serve our Thai users, customers and partners.

You previously spent a year in Thailand working with the Thai team. What are some memorable experiences from your time in the country?

I’ve always been struck by the vibrancy and energy, the amazing sense of creativity and the immense warmth of the Thai people. The year was one of the most enriching of my life, and this was largely due to how welcome I felt, not just into the Google Thailand family, but by our customers and partners as well. I’d always heard that Thailand is the land of smiles, and I have to say, it’s true!

From a Google perspective, the major milestone was definitely the YouTube launch mid-2014. The platform has gone from strength to strength in Thailand, and we’re seeing more and more Thai people express themselves through great content on YouTube. In the past year alone, watchtime increased by 70%, while the hours of content uploaded increased by 70%. Just looking at a popular channel like MadPuppet Studio, it’s clear that the platform is an incredible launchpad for people to share their creativity.

What are some of your favorite things about Thailand?

My first experience of Thailand was as a tourist. From the very first visit, Thailand’s beaches, natural beauty, great food and the hospitality of its people were what stuck with me. As a result, my wife and I have travelled all across the country over the past 12 years. We even got engaged in Ko Phi Phi — I guess you can say that Thailand was a special place for us even before I came to Thailand for work.