The little facial that crew

Many of the international cosmetics brands have great stories behind their founding, but Thailand appears to have only one – Srichand Bangkok 1948. The date in its name is the give-away, and in fact there’s a Luminescence series just launched to commemorate the company’s forthcoming 70th anniversary. 
Srichand Bangkok’s origins actually date to 1942, when Phong Hanutsaha founded the firm as United Dispensary, specialising in the manufacture and sale of liquid pharmaceutical products. Six years later it acquired the rights to Srichand Scented Powder and the company name was changed to Srichand United Dispensary. Items trademarked Srichand Professional dominated its line of cosmetics for easing rashes and acne.
Almost seven decades later Srichand talc is still around, and this is still a family business, run by the third generation, led by 37-year-old Rawit Hanutsaha, who took over as managing director in 2006. 
With an engineering degree from Chulalongkorn University and a business masters from Vanderbilt University in the US, Rawit has also written several marketing guides, such as “A Thinker’s Guide to Conquering the Ocean”, “Marketing the Inverted Monkey” and “Marketing’s Everything”. 
When he took over the reins at Srichand (from an uncle), Rawit’s grandfather, the firm’s beloved founder, was in his late 80s. Rawit says the most important of the many lessons Phong taught him was to always be honest and grateful and never settle for mediocre quality in a product. 
“Before he passed away he said we must not change the formula of Srichand Professional, so that it remains the best product possible. We could get the raw ingredients like zinc oxide and calamine from China or India much more cheaply, but we don’t. We still order them from the same European supplier as in the old days. And we also take care of our employees,” he says. “The oldest is 76!”
Worried that making a slew of minor changes in the products might kill off a brand that was only sold in drugstores and didn’t even use bar codes, Rawit decided a couple of years ago to completely transform the organisation and re-brand Srichand powder. He was aiming at “modern people who still like Thai stuff”. 
The 2014 revamp introduced a fresh corporate image and beautiful, classic-yet-modern packaging. Srichand Translucent and Baby Powder earned a Bai Po Business Award from the Sasin Institute. A year later Rawit repeated the success with Srichand for Men and Srichand Baby Cream, garnering seven different awards from the industry for their innovation. 
The Srichand Luminescence Series launched this year to give the brand a higher international profile quickly picked up HWD awards from Watsons, as the country’s best-selling loose powder and Best Exclusive of the Year Cosmetic. 
The next goal is to make Srichand the top cosmetic brand in Thailand while keeping quality the top priority. Rawit has invested Bt100 million in research and development, as well as manufacturing facilities in Japan. 
The original logo in Thai script has been changed to English, but the “S” and “C” signifying “Srichand” appear as stylised Thai lettering. And, to let foreign shoppers know this is a Thai product, the tagline has been changed from “Since 1948” to “Bangkok 1948”.
Rawit says he got that last idea on a visit to drugstore a year ago. “I was flipping through the cosmetics products in the Bt300-to-Bt600 price range and I realised that the packaging always indicated cities of origin in the West on the front, but on the back it showed they were all made in China.
“I decided I could make a difference in the Thai cosmetics market by naming Bangkok on the package to show pride in our roots. I believe we can establish a hi-tech production base in this country and I’m more than ready to make that come true – to create the best-quality cosmetics for Thai ladies. But the Luminescence series does say ‘made in Japan’ on the back, even as it remains completely suitable for Thai people’s skin.”
The packaging also mimics the changing hues of sunlight from dawn to dusk, since the new series for people with oily and “combination” skin – sunscreen, a liquid foundation and press powder – provides protection all day, promising a smooth and natural-looking complexion. 
“In the past we never really had any particular strengths and only Srichand scented powder had a solid customer base,” Rawit says. “But our brand-redesign targets modern people who are open-minded, health-conscious and like up-to-date information. They like to try new things and appreciate good quality. 
“When I created the new formula, I told my team, ‘Don’t think about the cost. Just try to come up with the best formulation you can first. Then it’s my job and the marketing team’s job to sell the products. And we’ve gone into most modern outlets too, including 7-Eleven.”
Achieving marketing success these days is a challenge, Rawit acknowledges, and making use of the social networks is important. 
“Building a cosmetics brand or competing with the big French brands takes a long time, but there’s a lot of built-in capital in both national and brand heritage. People don’t believe only what they see and hear in the advertisements, so, although ads help in creating brand awareness, if we want people to buy our product, they have to hear about it from their family, friends and other influences.”
Rawit points out that Thai brands in every category face an additional obstacle in having to keep the product cheap. 
“For example, when we launch a new product, people who haven’t even tried it will complain that it’s expensive – despite it being in the same price range as other similar products. 
“But ultimately, having created the products, we believe in their quality. We can only ask for the opportunity to prove this to the customer, get them to try it, and then they’ll realise that the quality alone makes it a better value than foreign products of a comparable price.” 
  PROUD OF ITS ROOTS
 The Srichand Luminescence Series is sold at Watsons, Boots, EveAndBoy, Tsuruha, Stardust, Zalora, 7-Catalog, Friday Catalog and 24 shopping.