LG Mitr Electronics Co Ltd has budgeted Bt1 billion this year to build its appliance and electronics brand to catapult the company into the market's number one spot by 2010 - or at least the top three.

The South Korean company will spend Bt360 million out of the budget on brand-building and the rest on buying advertisements and holding marketing events, Nakkil Sung, its president and chief executive, said yesterday.

The company will also add two plants to its complex in Rayong province at a total cost of Bt300 million.

This year it will build a Bt240-million commercial air-conditioner plant, followed next year by a Bt60-million front-load washing machine plant.

Sung said his goal for this year was to change LG's image from a lower-priced brand to a premium name.

"We have tried to develop our 'Blue Ocean' products to create a new market, different from our normal one," he said, adding that the products would be innovative and unlike mass-market products.

"We don't want to use a marketing strategy to cut prices to drive our sales. We have to develop innovative products every month to boost sales and create a new brand image," he said.

The company has its own research and development centre, which will use Bt760 million this year - up 40 per cent from its R&D budget last year.

LG expects its premium products to account for 30 per cent of its estimated sales of Bt20.4 billion this year, compared to 20 per cent of last year's sales of Bt12 billion.

Sung said the Thai market was highly competitive compared with others in Southeast Asia. To meet the challenge, LG will use an "integrated" marketing strategy to drive sales.

"If we succeed in boosting our market ranking to number one or among the top three in all of our product categories in Thailand's market, our success will be the prototype for our marketing plans in Southeast Asia and other countries," the president said.

LG claims that five of its seven electronics and digital products are market leaders - washing machines, microwaves, plasma televisions, re-frigerators and computer monitors.

Its home air-conditioners and DVD players rank among the top three.

Mobile phones are the only LG product currently with a lower market share.

The company will use aggressive marketing tactics in an effort to bring its mobile phone sales up into the top three local players by the end of this year.

"We will launch innovative mobile phones every month of this year," Sung said.

Consumers will change their minds about LG products thanks to the company's new offerings, he

said.

Somluck Srimalee

The Nation