Out-of-home media set to boom upcountry, agency predicts
Moves by individuals and business groups away from Bangkok will open doors for out-of-home advertising media such as bill?boards, says Kinetic Worldwide (Thailand), part of the WPP Group.
Out-of-home media including billboards and in-store and transit media account for 10 per cent of annual advertising expenditure, a proportion the agency estimates will increase in coming years.
After surveying several key provinces over the past couple of years, the agency observed the migration of Bangkokians upcountry as they seek a comfortable lifestyle and low cost of living, Surachet Bumrongsuk, country manager at Kinetic Worldwide (Thailand), said yesterday.
He said working people were seeking tranquillity of life upcountry, both in first-tier provinces such as Chiang Mai, Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani and Khon Kaen and second-tier ones such as Phitsanulok, Tak and Kanchanaburi.
Considering their gross provincial product, these locations are expected to be engines of regional development in the near future.
The key supporting factor is major business’ ongoing expansion in those provinces to cash in on high purchasing power there. The big companies already present in those areas are Home Pro, Index Living Mall, Major Cineplex, Sansiri, Central Plaza, Big C and Tesco Lotus.
In a seminar called "The Passage to Upcountry: Understanding People and Cities" held by Kinetic yesterday, Marut Arthakaivatee, chief executive officer of VGI Global Media, said retail chains continued to expand in the Kingdom in scales ranging from convenience stores and community malls to large shopping complexes.
The rise of purchasing power in the provinces has been fuelled by such government policies as an increase in the daily minimum wage, Bt15,000 salaries for new graduates, and the first-car-buyer tax-rebate scheme.
Surachet suggested that an important turning point would be the Asean Economic Community, scheduled to take effect in 2015. This economic integration will offer new opportunities for business operators and local entrepreneurs, and this should result in more demand for out-of-home advertising media.
He said advertisers should get a good grasp of their customers’ needs and communicate with them in terms they understand.
In the first nine months, of Bt87.4 billion advertising expenditure in Thailand, outdoor advertising accounted for Bt3.44 billion, in-store Bt2.14 billion, and transit media Bt2.15 billion.
By end of this year, Kinetic expects to see a 20-per-cent surge in ad spend via out-of-home media compared with a year ago, Surachet said.
