BizBuzz

Digital media presents a huge business opportunity, but also some risks.

Marketers of yesteryear used conventional media to control their message and communicate with target customers.

But once we entered the digital media era, including social networks, the power of consumers soared because digital media offers two-way communication.

Today’s marketers must have a true understanding on how to manage this timeless media. That is what The Nation learned from Tom Doctoroff, CEO of JWT Asia Pacific.

“If brands fail to strategically manage messages in digital media, two-way communication may create consumer confusion about the brand,” he said.

Regarding how this relates to the recent mid-term election in the US, he said: “Once customer loyalty to the brand declines, its price drops. After the drop in price, the economy falls. And then the Republicans won the recent mid-term election [to gain control of the Senate].”

A boxer in the bank

Apart from being a follower of the English Premier League, Bank of Thailand Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul may also be a boxing fan – given he compared monetary policy management amid global uncertainties to fighters slugging it out in the ring.

“The economic situations of Thailand and the world are complex and full of uncertainties, and recently there have been rapid changes in situations,” he said.

“So we need to have a bracket of monetary policy that is flexible, similar to a boxer going into the ring – the legs must not stay still because if your legs are dead, the opponent will easily knock you down,” he said.

“We need to have footwork because your opponent is not the same simple adversary like the one we faced in the 1960s. The enemy now comes at you with various techniques and he is fast.

“Therefore, monetary policy needs to be flexible, it needs good footwork while using a mixture of balanced tools to take down the opponent.”

Apart from footwork, he said good economic and monetary policies required credibility because there had been many uncertainties over the past three years.

So there should be no surprises in macro-economic policy while a strong economic foundation was needed to overcome expansion obstacles, he said.

Contributed by Watchiranont Thongtep and Erich Parpart