Experts urge govt to help SMEs in ad business

At a forum on “Transforming Media and Advertising Business in the AEC”, leading professionals and marketing gurus from media, advertising and online businesses yesterday got together to brainstorm their ideas on how to prepare for the Asean Economic Community.
In a video presentation prepared by Spring News, co-organiser of the forum with the Media Advertising Association of Thailand (MAAT), Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said the AEC would present a big challenge for business, including media and advertising agencies, to reap opportunities from this huge market after 10 Asean member countries become one.
Surin encouraged local advertising and media firms to expand regionally to cash in on the economic integration, as business would be allowed to move around the region more freely.
Young enterprises including advertising agencies should change their mindset to grow regionally, rather than focusing only on domestic markets, he added.
The government and related parties should help small and medium-sized enterprises and young entrepreneurs survey potential Asean markets and then to set up operations in those countries, he said.
MAAT president Wannee Rut-tanaphon said the advertising business would not face much change because major media agencies had their own head offices in mature markets such as Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia, while some had affiliates in emerging countries such as Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
Witawat Chaipanee, executive adviser at the Advertising Associa-tion of Thailand, said multinational companies in this region had used regional advertising campaigns for many years, so the production environment would remain unchanged under the AEC.
However, there would be some non-tariff barriers in the advertising business. The “Made in Malaysia” policy is an example. Under this policy, the Malaysian government will only allow television commercials locally produced with local presenters to be aired on local TV channels.
Sanchai Thiewprasertkul, managing director at Teleinfo Media, said SMEs would likely be more affected than conglomerates by this challenge because the AEC would bring new rivals into the country.
Krittee Manoleehagul, managing director for content and services at Sanook Online, said he planned to introduce new sections to serve increasing demand for expatriates who will migrate into the kingdom after the opening of the AEC. Sanook Online will provide important information and entertainment to cater to their lifestyles.