Toy firm initiates tourism project

The move came after the group’s success in commercially developing the platform toy called “CE” – which stands for Creative Enhancement – after it finished among the world’s top five toys in the Best DIY Platform category in the International Designate Toy Awards 2011 contest in the US.
CE (Pronounced as “Zee”) is a character and platform toy project created by a Thailand-based company, Expertise Partner International (EPI), a project developed and managed by Napat Phromphruk since 2008
CE is the first platform toy in Thailand completely designed and manufactured in Thailand, from the first sketch to the final product.
Napat, who is business development director of Mafia, also one of the founders of companies under the Mafia Factory brand name – Monkey and Friends Production Co Ltd and EPI – expects the “CE Localised” project would help spur the domestic tourism market in local areas.
He said the idea is similar to one in Japan, which uses a toy as a medium to talk about the characteristics of different local areas.
To execute the new project, Mafia Factory has joined hands with the Thai Cartoon Association to push for exclusively designed cartoon characters in the form of a post box via “CE toy”, focusing on the tourism destinations.
“Initially, we are targeting Ratchaburi and Phetchburi as pilot projects under CE Localism,” said Napat, adding that they had been collaborating with local administrative agencies to initiate the project.
Conceptually, he said the cartoon character designs for each province would be different according to the characteristic of the provinces. The designed post box would be suitable for resorts, shops and restaurants where their customers can take a picture with it and share the pictures on social media.
“So far, we have discussed the idea of the CE Localism project with business owners in more than 10 provinces and received positive feedback from them,” said Napat.
He said this was at an initial stage and the group has not yet decided on the cartoon character for Ratchaburi. In the next step, the group might select the top three famous designers to design a proper character and then have people to vote on their preferred choice.
However, Mafia Factory has also launched six different post boxes via the CE toy designed by six famous designers, who have worked with it over the past six years.
Napat said these post boxes were designed as showcases under the CE Localism project if the idea could be materialised.
“This concept has been very successful in Japan, as people can connect the toy to the area represented by it, creating a robust souvenir product market and other products related to the toy,” he said.
Napat said in Japan, products related to toys could generate about 10 billion yen (Bt3 billion) a year.
As for Thailand, he said the country’s local areas could develop in the same way as those in Japan. The business owners who join the project would also have licences to sell the designed cartoon characters on the CE toy as souvenir and also other products that contain that cartoon character, for example.
Previously, the group’s main client targets were foreign companies from various industries. Over the past few years, Mafia Factory has provided services to Thai companies such as PTT and Toyota that use toys for branding.
Napat said the group is the holder of the CE toy patent and trademark and it would provide services from designing and producing the designed CE toys for the clients.
Buddy CE is a 3.5-inch plastic figure available for sale as a do it yourself product and a limited special series.