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Commonwealth creative chief named by McCann
McCann Worldgroup Thailand has appointed Thierry Halbroth as the executive creative director for Commonwealth, the collaborative team handling General Motors’ Chevrolet business.
At the regional agency hub, Halbroth and his team are tasked with evolving the brand’s creative outputs across the Asia-Pacific region, focusing on Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Japan.
Halbroth will also take on the position of chairmab of the McCann Worldgroup Thailand Creative Council, which oversees the group’s initiatives towards creative excellence. He joins from Hong Kong, where he was global executive creative director for McCann’s Cathay Pacific Central Team for seven years.
Magnum, with new flavours, sees huge growth in first half
Magnum Ice Cream said the brand enjoyed 670-per-cent growth in the first half of 2013 after the launch of three new flavours and through its brand-connection efforts. The opening of the Magnum Cafe, followed by Magnum The Chocolatier, reached out to 250,000 consumers within eight months.
Magnum will continue to focus on its digital strategy in the second half of the year and implement its “Build Brand Love” strategy to strengthen its brand connection with consumers.
Magnum will form six alliances for its “FIN Featuring” online campaign, which will be extended to offline activities to help pave the way to reach 2 million fans in six months.
AIA Thailand takes 24.1 per cent of life-insurance market in 1st half
AIA Thailand was the leader in the Bt214.53-billion first-half life insurance market with a share of 24.1 per cent, followed by Muang Thai Life Assurance with 14 per cent and Thai Life Insurance with 11.9 per cent, according to the Thai Life Assurance Association. In the Bt48.08-billion market for new premiums, AIA was still the leader, followed by Muang Thai and Thai Life.
For new premiums in June alone, Thai Life ranked first with Bt2.1 billion, followed by Muang Thai with Bt1.6 billion and AIA with Bt1.44 billion.
Sara Lamsam, president of the association, said yesterday that the association believes total premiums this year could grow by 17.3 per cent to Bt459 billion.
Bualuang looks to hedge SET risk
Bualuang Securities plans to increase revenue from investment banking to diversify risk from stock market volatility.
President Pichet Sithi-Amnuai said yesterday that the brokerage business generates 70-80 per cent of revenue but the company wants this business to contribute 60-70 per cent in order to balance revenue sources and diversify risks if the stock market is volatile. The rest of the revenue comes from investment banking.
The bullish stock market earlier this year was attractive for companies wanting to raise funds. The picture for initial public offering deals this year is brighter than for mergers and acquisitions deals.
ICC drops poor performers
ICC International will withdraw about 10 unprofitable brands, especially fashion products, from its portfolio. Those products are from the company’s own brands and its vendors’ brands. There are about 60 brands looked after by the company.
Consumer purchasing power in the first six months of this year shrank sharply by more than 30 per cent due to many negative factors, such as the government’s first-car scheme, which encouraged consumers to allocate a certain budget to pay for them. ICC International achieved only 7-8 per cent growth in sales in the first six months of this year.
DTAC TriNet transfers phone numbers to 3G service
DTAC TriNet, a subsidiary of Total Access Communication that operates a third-generation cellular service on the 2.1-gigahertz spectrum, has successfully transferred the phone numbers of 100,000 DTAC customers to its service. It aims to do this for 1 million customers before the end of this month and 3.5 million by October.
Customers who use special services such as international roaming, multi-SIM, group billing (for families), AirCards or tablet SIM cards can pick up their new DTAC TriNet SIM card at any DTAC service hall nationwide from this Thursday onwards.
Chaiyod Chirabowornkul, DTAC chief customer officer and director of DTAC TriNet Co, said more than 3.5 million DTAC customers had registered for TriNet since July 23.
Alkylbenzene plant planned
Hyundai Engineering Co, a leading South Korean industrial-plant builder, said yesterday that its consortium had clinched a US$300-million (Bt9.4 billion) contract to build manufacturing facilities for a raw material used in biodegradable household detergents in Thailand.
Hyundai Engineering said it and its parent company, Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co, planned to build the facilities capable of producing 100,000 tonnes of linear alkylbenzene per year.
Krungsri Auto joins Korat expo
Krungsri Auto will join the seventh Korat Money Expo to cash in on the demands of the flourishing economy in the Northeast of Thailand, said its managing director Pairote Cheunkrut.
The event will take place from Friday to Sunday.
According to the Bank of Thailand, the economy in the region has been expanding over the past year with a 3.1-per-cent increase in the Private Consumption Index. The spending was supported by the first-car policy and a 9-per-cent increase in investment from the private sector.
At the same time, consumer loans increased by 29.3 per cent, mostly for auto purchase. Nakhon Ratchasima was the second-highest contributor in the region.
True contracts China’s Huawei
Huawei, a leading global provider of ICT (information and communications technology) solutions, has been selected by True Corp to deploy a third-generation Internet protocol core network aimed at providing millions of True 3G subscribers with diverse, smoother services using Huawei 400G core router line cards.
With the development of 3G services and extensive usage of intelligent terminals for online video services, there is an explosive growth in data traffic. True believes it is urgent that it optimise its networks, especially to expand its IP core network's capacity.
