Japan’s Bravis International opts for Thailand as its first Asean operation

The move forms part of the company’s vision to become the No-1 player for brand and packaging design in Asia.

 Fumi Sasada, president and chief executive officer, said yesterday that the Bangkok office would be the third office owned by Bravis outside Japan.

 After opening its Tokyo headquarters in 1996, Bravis International moved abroad for the first time with the opening of an office in Seoul in 2006, and another in Shanghai three years ago, employing 10 and seven staff, respectively.

 “For Thailand, we will officially open Bravis International (Thailand), located on the 30th floor of Bhiraj Tower at Emquartier, on March 17, starting with six people, of whom three are designers and the rest are marketing officers.

 “The opening of the Bangkok office will be in line with the company’s vision to become the number-one player in brand and packaging design in the Asia region,” he said.

 The company had previously looked at Singapore for the opening of its first Asean office, he added, but finally chose Bangkok thanks to the city’s better geographic location at the centre of Asean, and its proximity to Malaysia, Myanmar and Vietnam.

 Compared to Bangkok, Singapore is a relatively small city and one in which it is more expensive to open and operate an office, Sasada said.

 It would be quite difficult for the company to control a Singapore operation from Japan, and communicating with the Bangkok office should be much easier, he explained. 

 Bravis International posted US$10.5 million (Bt374 million) in domestic revenue in Japan last year, and a further $2 million (Bt71.2 million) in foreign income. 

 “We wish to double our annual revenue both in and outside Japan in the next five years. We currently employ 130 staff totally, of which 30 are overseas. We want to increase the number of staff to 230 in the next five years, of which 150 will be in Japan and 80 at our international operations.

 “In addition to Bangkok, we are also considering opening new Bravis offices in Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam,” the company chief said.

 The Bravis operation in Bangkok is expected to acquire between 15 and 20 new customers per year and reach at least $1 million (Bt35.6 million) in annual revenue in the next three years.

 “Asia is a good potential market for branding and packaging design. Based on experience from our Bravis operation in China, we found that many companies in China have converted themselves from OEM [original equipment manufacturing] and are looking for good branding and packaging design for their own products,” he said

 “We will rely on our Tokyo operation as the hub for global expansion and for providing support on creative design,” he added.

 Sasada said branding and packaging design was not, however, easy work, taking from one month to more than a year to complete the process for each particular product.

 For the client company, branding and packaging design should not be considered as a cost, but as an investment, he stressed.

 “I myself am not an artist, but a designer. I answer to my clients. I’m like a boxer, but one who makes my client’s product for fighting in the market place. With competitors all around, the loser has to be moved out of the market,” the president and CEO said.

 Sasada said good packaging design needed to stand out and convey a strong message to potential buyers, and it was not therefore only a matter of allowing something to look beautiful, but to sell the product.

 This is crucial, as an estimated 60 per cent of shoppers are impulse buyers who decide to purchase a particular product once they are inside a store, he added.