Pruksa in post-flood image makeover

Pruksa president and chief executive officer Thongma Vijitphongpun said in an inter-|view with The Nation that now that the company has restructured its business to focus on construction, and revamped its management system to improve links among business units, it will emphasise promoting its corporate and product brands.

"During the flood disaster last year, most of our residential projects were flooded, and all the television channels visited our customers every day until Pruksa [became synonymous] with the flood. In fact, most of the residential projects of other developers were also flooded. The question is why the Pruksa brand was associated with the flood more than other property firms," he said.

To deal with this problem, the company has revised its positioning in the market and its business strategy by stressing product quality, production process, and after-sale service under a four-word motto: "Happiness, value, honour and pride".

The first word in the motto means customers will get a feeling of happiness when they buy a Pruksa home. Its residential projects also offer reasonable prices that match customers’ desire for value. Home-buyers also will have the feeling of honour when they own their residence, as well as pride.

The main question is whether |its customers actually get the feelings outlined in this motto. The company has to do everything it |can to develop its homes and its service to ensure the motto is reflected in its customers’ actual experience.

"We have tried to serve our motto by developing our construction process, design, after-sale service, and corporation social responsibility for more than five years – that is, since before the flood disaster," Thongma said.

After putting more effort into setting up its corporate system to serve its motto, including its staff’s working style, the company believes that this is the time to present its business strategy and business brand to potential customers, and has appointed Creative Juice and Y&R to help it in this strategy, he said.

"Our brand strategy is to be [known as a] quality product that creates more value for home-buyers. They also will have the feelings of honour and pride when they buy a Pruksa home. That is our goal as we build our brand in the future."

Pruksa Real Estate, established in 1993, took only 17 years to become a market leader, enjoying presales averaging Bt25 billion a year. The company’s growth has been based on budget homes priced lower than Bt1 million, but now it also develops homes in all price ranges, including those costing more than Bt10 million.