JP enters out-of-home media
AFTER ACHIEVING success in businesses ranging from leasing services and IT product and gadget care centres to the sale of motorcycles and beauty products, JP Group has teamed up with Next Cube to diversify into out-of-home media business.
JP Group plans to list on the stock market in due course.
Under the partnership, the companies are initially launching Social Life Tower digital out-of-home media, equipped with 4x4 metre screens, on an 8-metre tower at Phuket International Airport. The screens will allow airport passengers to get an interaction with brands both socially and emotionally.
New landmark
“We expect that this new interactive media will be a new landmark at Phuket International Airport. The company also aims to bring this cutting-edge technology to other international airports in the Kingdom soon, in order to create a connection between brands and customers,” Ranjira Kongsawat, managing director of Next Cube, said yesterday.
Meanwhile, JP Group also sees a huge opportunity in out-of-home (OOH) media business, particularly at the country’s international airports, which are Thailand’s gateways for foreign visitors.
Jakaphan Prachuabmoh, chairman of JP Group, said Phuket International Airport welcomed more than 10 million international tourists each year.
Its Social Life Tower could therefore be seen by millions of people, presenting a tremendous opportunity for brands and media advertisers to communicate with target customers via online and offline approaches.
The current business diversification is a part a group restructuring with the aim of being listed on the Market for Alternative Investment in the near future, he added.
The move appears to be in line with the industry’s development from static billboards to digital screens in order to improve advertising utilisation.
Despite facing flat growth this year, digital OOH media are seen as a key future driver as they will replace static billboards in prime locations, thus enhancing capacity.
In addition, digital screens have become more popular due to a combination of multimedia technologies via which advertisers can match such media with a consumer’s journey, covering all lifestyles of the target group.
Recently, Witsuwat Amkaphet, manager of Kinetic Worldwide (Thailand), forecast that by the year’s end, more than 500 digital screens would be added nationwide – 60 per cent of them located in Bangkok – thus boosting the use of OOH media.
Kinetic Worldwide (Thailand), the local unit of the world’s leading OOH media agency, estimates that people spend over 12 hours a day outside on average, making OOH media increasingly important and popular.
Last year, ad spending via OOH media in Thailand was about Bt8 billion.
